Son of the Love Goddess
by Mythical Words
Summary: I gulped. I was in huge trouble. Huge. She bared her teeth at me in a wide grin and I winced. Seriously. I'm a son of Aphrodite. Love troubles? I'm on it. Fighting? Not so much. "Time to go to sleep." Renee said. And then she shocked me. Ow.
1. Chapter 1

**Son of the Love Goddess Chapter 1**

**Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan.**

**A/N: This does tie into my other story, Pranks and Real Anger, but it isn't necessary to read it. This assumes that The Lost Hero doesn't exist. Thanks to Kittycat32 for beta-ing this! **

_I have never lost a duel to the death. Not one. -Jim Butcher_

I gulped.

I was in huge trouble. Huge.

She bared her teeth at me in a wide grin and I winced. Seriously. I'm a son of Aphrodite. Love troubles? I'm on it. Fighting? Not so much. And she was a daughter of Ares. Clarisse was bad enough, being a bully and everything, but Irenee was worse because she loves to fight and maim people.

It's her favorite thing to do and no one, _no one, _practices more than she does. Irenee has beaten every single person in camp. And, seriously, she's named after the god of peace!

"Come on, Renee! Finish him off!" One of her brothers shouted. Unless you want to be in the infirmary for the next five years, never call Irenee by her real name. Call her Renee.

Renee just twirled her spear like it was a baton and said, "I'm not done with him yet."

Renee has a British accent that would make anyone else's threats sound ridiculous, but her threats are more menacing than they would be in an American accent.

"Come on, pretty boy, fight!" Renee said as she backed me into a corner. I flailed around for my sword, which I'd dropped, the great fighter that I am.

Renee doesn't look all that much like any of her siblings. She has smooth, silky (and lethal when it's whipped in your face) red hair, skin that is forever slightly tan, and a perfect face. You should hear my sisters complain about how it isn't fair. They all say they want her flawless skin- Renee has been in hundreds of fights, but she doesn't have a single scar, she doesn't ever get bruises, and she never has problems with zits like a certain sister of mine does- and the easy way she attracts boys.

The part of Renee that makes her a daughter of Ares is intimidating. Really intimidating. Because, unlike Clarisse, she doesn't look huge. Renee just looks a little taller than normal with a bit more muscle than a normal girl. But if it comes to a contest of strength, she'll win. So when you see this hot, seemingly normal girl arm wrestle and _win_ with one of body builder brothers its scary. As in get-the-Hades-out-of-there-before-she-turns-on-you scary.

Renee looked pretty scary as she advanced on me. She was wearing full Greek armor, of course, and she was acting like it's feather light (which it totally isn't. It's almost as heavy as one of Terri's suitcases when we go on vacation).

Renee looked all the more scary because, if she took off her Greek armor, she'd look like just another girl in need of a new wardrobe. Her jeans looked like the ones Terri had just bought, except they weren't ripped on purpose, and her bright red t-shirt made it look like she had just soaked her shirt in blood. My legs were quivering from exhaustion and it occurred to me that I really, really needed to come up with a better way to spend my time.

"Pick up your sword," Renee commanded as she pointed her spear at me. I was covered in my own blood and my clothes were ripped beyond repair. I was exhausted. Weren't our parents supposed to be in love or something?

I tried to pick it up. It was too heavy and I didn't have enough strength left.

"Hey, Clarisse!" Renee called as I collapsed to the ground. Clarisse turned to look at Renee. "Pass me your electric spear for a minute."

Clarisse grinned and passed the electric spear to her half-sister. Oh man.

"Time to go to sleep." Renee said and then she shocked me. Ow.

About twenty minutes later I was able to get back to my feet and wobble out of the arena. Renee was still there, still fighting. Which meant there was a crowd of boys watching her, wide eyed as she thrust, spun and kicked.

"Your clothes!" The head counselor of the Aphrodite cabin, also known as my full-blooded sister, said distastefully. Technically, I am just as much the head counselor as she was.

"Terri, can you please help me?" I moaned. Terri and I are identical twins. We both have blonde hair, fair skin, and hazel eyes.

"No way am I touching you." Another one of my half-siblings said, "You're sweaty and bloody."

"I hadn't noticed." I muttered as I dragged myself to my cabin. Let me just say one thing about being a son of Aphrodite; it can majorly suck. No offense to my mom or anything. You try being one of two boys in a pink cabin full of girls. So much fun. Especially when my sisters decide that they have to do a fashion show. Like they had apparently decided that afternoon. One girl was wearing a dress that I'm pretty sure Chiron would never allow anyone to wear at camp. Another was wearing a tiny skirt and a pink shirt that was covered in hearts. I wanted to point out that the shirt and the skirt totally clashed, but I was too anxious to get out of the way of the projectile pieces of clothes and make-up. How on earth do you get eyeliner to fly that well?

"Tyler! Does this go?" My sister, Melanie asked anxiously as she showed me her outfit.

"Way over the top. Try a little less hair gel," I said. Yeah, I really said that. It's just my luck that, of all the people in my cabin, I am the best with clothes and love magic. (I love using my love magic to curse people, its hilarious and soo much fun. Which is why I now stay away from the Hermes and Demeter cabins and am often the target of the Stoll brothers' tricks. What can I say? Katie and Travis just needed a little push in the right direction.)

"Who took my shoes?" One girl shrieked and I collapsed onto my bed.

"This shirt is dirty!"

"Should I wear the boots or the ballet flats?"

"My eyeliner!"

The storm of girls getting ready for a fashion show was giving me a headache. Especially when I saw Terri wearing a pair of designer jean shorts and a yellow tank top that was a little, ahem, small. I closed my eyes and put my pillow over my head. Didn't work. I could still smell the expensive cloud of perfume and hear the shrieks of "that's mine!" I stood up and walked, very quickly, out of the cabin. I sat down, leaning against the cabin, and closed my eyes. My clothes were already ruined so a little dirt couldn't hurt them that much more.

"Tyler!" One of my sisters screamed and came marching out of the cabin. I opened one eye and closed it again.

"Courtney. Maybe a little less perfume? I can't breathe."

"Tyler, you're supposed to give her advice on what she's wearing." A voice said to my left. My eyes opened and I saw the daughter of Hecate who is my best friend in the world. She's the least girly of all the girls in the camp which, when you're me, is good.

"Not happening."

Courtney opened her mouth and started to curse me (and I don't mean the swear words brand of cursing, I mean the kind that only demigods and gods can do), but I interrupted her, "You look great. Just put on some boots, to make your legs look longer."

Courtney smiled, looking satisfied and went back inside.

"Someone help me." I muttered.

"What happened to you?"

"Renee," was all I needed to say. Renee loves to do what she calls "teaching". I call it beating up every single kid in camp. Especially me.

"Wow. You really need a shower." Clara was holding her nose as she spoke. I wasn't sure if it was because of the stink coming off me, or the perfume floating out of my cabin.

I opened my eyes to glare at her. Clara was tossing a ball of magical fire in her hand like a baseball. Clara is always changing. Always. Her mom, Hecate, is the goddess of three faces- one for morning, one for afternoon, one for night- and Clara's changes aren't time related. They just kind of happen. At the moment she had purple hair and black eyes and she looked kind of creepy.

"I need to get a new cabin, that's what I need." I said as Melanie ran out of the cabin, hyperventilating.

"Tyler, what do you think of my dress?" Melanie asked desperately.

The dress was red and gauzy and beautiful and definitely not meant for summer camp. Melanie has a more-than-slight tendency for melodramatics and over the top outfits.

"I think that you're shoes don't match your dress-" I said and Melanie looked at her feet in despair, "-and you should really try wearing something that isn't going to get me and Terry in trouble with Chiron. Also you might want to try breathing. Other than that, you're good."

Clara snickered and Melanie ran back into the cabin.

"Your title should be Head Adviser for Stupid Matters," Clara said in a tone that clearly told everyone what she thought of Melanie's dress.

"Watch it or you'll find that your clothes don't fit."

"Oooh. Tragedy." Clara smiled.

"Tell that to my sisters." I said as I heard the noise of Terri screaming at someone to give Melanie back her stilettos. Gods.

Just then I noticed who was walking towards me. "Clara, make me invisible or something. Now." Clara, of course, did nothing. Travis Stoll and Katie Gardner were coming closer. "Clara!" I said through gritted teeth.

Clara just continued tossing around her ball of fire. Shoot.

Travis scowled at me and I raised an eyebrow. They stopped in front of me.

"Something wrong?" Katie asked as she looked past me into the cabin, where clothes were being tossed around and the girlie shrieks were clearly audible.

"Yeah. My sisters are putting on a fashion show and I have to judge it," I grumbled.

Travis grinned and I got the feeling that this was not going to end well for me.

"Serves you right."

"For what? The permanent make-up, the too small clothes," those were the punishments I had helped Silena, the previous Aphrodite counselor, to inflict when they had performed their golden mango prank, "or the love magic?"

I eyed Katie and Travis. Even though I'd removed the magic- under duress I must add- they were holding hands. Both Katie and Travis blushed. Their feelings for each other were practically screaming at me. Another thing I'm good at.

"Much fun as this is," Clara interrupted, "you might want to go somewhere else, Tyler. Or you might want to disappear." She was looking over towards the Ares cabin and I had a very good idea of who she was talking about.

"No problem." I said and vanished into the cabin, keeping my eyes firmly rooted on the floor until I got to my bed. (How many drachmas do you want to bet that you can guess why?)

Not many people like me very much.

Especially the other camp counselors. Clarisse hates me (but not as much as she did before Silena died. Silena was my other best friend as well as my half-sister), Travis and Connor Stoll want to get revenge for several unfortunate incidents, Annabeth doesn't like me either (is it my fault that my twin sister can't leave well enough alone? I wasn't the one who tried to dress her up for a date with Percy), Percy doesn't like me for the same reason as Annabeth, Katie Gardner is really mad at me for the whole love magic thing, Will Solace is ready to kill me because I accidentally gave the Eros kids (Eros is my half-brother because we have the same mom) permission to use the Apollo cabin's bows and a bunch of other people think I am... well, how do you put it? Think I am girly, I guess would be the best way.

That doesn't stop me from being super cool though. Not here, but at home. My dad's house is a ten-minute drive from camp and I go back to the house whenever I seriously need a break from all the girls.

Chiron understands, thank the gods. When we go to school in the winter my twin sister and I are always the most popular kids. It probably has something to do with the way we look. (Not that I'm bragging or anything.) I just have nice blonde hair, great taste in clothes, and- hey! I am not vain!

"Tyler!" One of my sister's voices called me. I flipped over and raised my eyebrows.

"We're ready." Terri said, still wearing the tiny jeans and tank top.

Please note: when I judge my sisters I try to be fair and judge how they really look, not how I feel about how they look. This is harder with some than others. Its really, really hard with Terri, who is not exactly shy of showing off, and really easy with Casey, who doesn't go for the whole the-more-skin-showing-the-better-it-is thing that some of my sisters like a lot.

"Okay. Where are we doing this?" I asked, with an audible sigh. Where was Mike when I needed him? Mike was my only brother. He tended to hang around girls, other than our sisters, a lot more than he hang around with me. I didn't mind most of the time, but sometimes he could've been a big help.

"Outside," Terri declared.

"You've got to be kidding," I groaned, thinking about the crowd they were sure to have gathered.

"Come on! Everyone's waiting for you."

By that point I had taken a really quick shower and changed into some clean clothes. My sisters would never have allowed me to judge a fashion show when I was covered in disgusting sweat and blood.

I walked out of the cabin and groaned when I saw almost the entire camp watching. Most of the kids that weren't there were Ares or Hypnos kids (the Hypnos kids almost never wake up let alone come to fashion shows). Terri gave me a shove and I threw up my arms in exasperation.

"Girls," I grumbled as I took my seat and grabbed my clipboard. First was Terri. To be fair, she did look hot (remember what I said about impartial judging) and she got a lot of whistles from the boys in the crowd. Her fair skin gleamed, her layered blonde hair that is exactly like mine but longer was brushing her shoulders and she had put an effort, as always, into her clothes.

I rolled my eyes and marked down my comments. Because of the potential for disaster among vain girls, nobody won. I just gave advice and compliments. Then came Courtney, dressed in an amazing skirt and top. Melanie followed, wearing her prom-like dress. The girls kept coming. The worst part was when Sophie came out. She was wearing a pink wrap-around sundress. It was the one about which I had immediately thought that Chiron wouldn't allow her to wear. Sure enough Chiron looked like Terri and I were about to get in huge trouble. Great.

"Sophie," I said in an exhausted one of voice. "Please go change before you get Terri and I into trouble."

"Tyler! She looks great," My twin sister said as she stuck her head out the door, "She's not changing."

"Did you even bother to look up the rules that counselors are supposed to enforce?" I asked.

Terri looked at me askance, "I can't believe that we're related."

"Me neither," I muttered under my breath as Sophie went back into the cabin. Last out was Casey, my favorite sister.

She walked out of the cabin, turned around because she'd forgotten something, walked back into the cabin and came out again. I started to laugh. Casey is the best. And the reason she is the best is what she did next.

"Hey, don't you all have something to do besides stare at idiots?" Casey asked, one eyebrow raised.

But Casey wasn't wearing anything special. No, Casey was wearing a pair of regular shorts and a pretty t-shirt and sneakers. Casey had braided her hair and wound it around her head, keeping it in place with invisible pins (when all is said and done, Casey is still a daughter of Aphrodite). And in Casey's hand was a dagger. Like everyone else in my family, Casey is pretty. (Well, I'm not pretty, and Mike isn't pretty. And if someone tells you otherwise, they're delusional.) Casey has dark brown hair that is wavy and long. Her skin is brown, almost as dark as her hair, but her lips are a light pink. Her light brown eyes were slightly outlined with make-up (trademark of daughters of Aphrodite) and her teeth were brilliantly white against her skin. Casey is small to the point of being petite. She still isn't five feet tall yet and her growth spurt seems to consist of growing a millimeter taller.

Never tease Casey about her size or skin color- you'll find yourself with relationship and fashion troubles for the rest of your life; Casey takes after me. I've yet to decide if this is a good or bad thing.

"No, they don't. But I do," I said to her with a grin.

"And our sisters force you to do this."

"Hey, it's either this or I get to do all the cabin chores. This is easier." I said as Casey came over and lounged against me. Casey is thirteen years old and amazing. She's also not very Aphrodite-like.

"I tried to talk to Terri, but she was in a clothes-induced high. I'm going for a run. I'll be back for dinner. If I die promise me that you won't let them go through my stuff," Casey said as she grinned up at me.

"You got it." I told her as she ruffled my hair and raised an eyebrow at the clipboard.

"Tell Sophie to take her junk off my bed and put it on her own bed."

"Sorry, no favorites. But the cabin will be clean before bedtime or some people are sleeping outside."

"And we'll be inside," Casey finished as she jogged off with a backward wave and a call of, "Don't go in there right now. It's worse than the Fields of Torture!"

I chuckled and set my clipboard down. Everyone started to scatter, dinner was soon and people had more interesting things to do than watch me try to get a group of clothes crazy girls to dress according to the dress code. Camp Half-Blood didn't exactly have a strict dress code. Still, at some point, Chiron had to draw the line. And several of my sisters repeatedly stepped over that line. Again and again and again. And they didn't care.

"Help me out, Clara?" I asked as I stared dubiously at my pink cabin.

Clara laughed and shook her head. I sighed and stood up, tugging on my shirt and wishing I had Greek battle armor on.

"Some friend," I muttered, but smiled easily.

I'm not mean or cruel or anything. And, despite that certain people seem to believe that I think that I am, I'm most definitely not perfect. I can totally tell you what's going to win at a fashion show and what's going to lose, what fashions are reasonable and what are ridiculous and make you look horrible (such as wearing your pants half off; stupidest idea in the world).

And I can curse you into falling in love with the next thing you set eyes on. (I even perfected it so that I can choose what species and what gender, but that's beside the point.) Plus, yeah, I can tell with a glance if you have feelings for someone else in your vicinity (this gets really embarrassing when someone is crushing on me). I can sabotage your level of popularity, make your clothes two sizes too big or small, and cover you with permanent make-up, but I can't fight. I can't run. I can't swim. Well, okay. I can swim and run, but I'm just no good at either thing. So, unless you have a love life or fashion life, I'm pretty much useless against you.

Unfortunately this leads to the girl who loves beating up half-bloods while pretending she's teaching. Renee. Sigh. Renee doesn't care what she wears, as long as its camo, bright red and the opposite of fashion. Either that, or something more protective like Greek armor, and Renee doesn't have a boyfriend, though almost every boy who isn't already going out with someone likes her. So I have nothing to fight against her with. Which is why I am always covered in bruises.

"Listen up!" I hollered at the mass of shrieking and giggling girls in my cabin. Even though Terri is supposed to be counselor along with me, I do most of the work. "Anyone with belongings not where they belong by dinnertime is sleeping outside tonight and will have no access to anything in the cabin."

All the girls looked at me, horror struck. Then they immediately flew into a flurry of putting things back where they belonged. Everything on my bed belonged to me. That was one of the rules I continually enforced. Nothing belonging to any of the girls was allowed to rest on my or Mike's bed, unless permission was asked and granted. Because there are certain items that you really don't want to see on your bed. After a certain incident I had nightmares for weeks.

I decided to go on a hunt for Mike, instead of staying around to watch my sisters argue about how much dresser and mirror space belonged to each of them. I had a hunch where he would be. Mostly because of my son of Aphrodite skills.

That was how I found Mike on the beach, kissing a daughter of Apollo, who I think is named Maya. I waited for half a minute before deciding they were too wrapped up in each other to notice me. Mike is half a year younger than me (he's nearly seventeen) and I knew that, while he wouldn't be happy if I interrupted, he couldn't do anything to me, since he has none of my extra, unusual skills. Though Mike is slightly better at fighting and he can control doves, our mom's sacred animal. Which might be why he doesn't get picked on quite as much as I do.

"Mike," I said in a sing-song voice. I had to say it twice more before Mike looked up. My Aphrodite heritage was screaming at me about how much Mike liked her. And how much she liked Mike. But I didn't need my Aphrodite skills to decipher the looks they were shooting me. Whoops.

"What?" Mike said, half out of breath.

"First of all, you missed a cabin wide fashion show. Second, you seriously need to clean under your bed. Third, if any of your stuff is anywhere it isn't supposed to be in the cabin then you get to sleep outside with our sisters. Thought I'd let you know."

Mike shrugged and then said, "Glad I missed the show. How was it?"

"Loud. And I might be in trouble with Chiron for not controlling some of the girls."

"Let me guess- Sophie?"

I nodded. "Dinner's in twenty minutes." And then I left before Maya shot me through with an arrow or curse me with only being able to speak in rhymes. You try rhyming fashion advice!

The cabin was amazingly clean when I got back. Apparently none of my sisters wanted to sleep outside. Clara was waiting for me on my bed, looking absolutely disgusted by the inside of my cabin.

Clara hates pink with all her heart.

"Hey Clara. Hey Casey." I said to the other girl sitting on my bed. She wasn't wearing shorts and a t-shirt anymore. Casey was now wearing jeans and a sweatshirt that said, _suck it up. I'm prettier. _

"Hi Tyler." Casey said as she undid her braided hair and redid it with swift, practiced movements. Casey can do her hair in her sleep. That is something I've witnessed. It was actually quite disturbing.

"Come on, Casey, let's see if this place is clean." And so I did a thorough check of the cabin. I looked in the closets and on the floors, under beds and on dressers. It was completely clean. Except for under Mike's bed. I spotted at least three dirt bunnies under there, along with several stains that looked suspiciously like Terri's permanent nail polish. (And when I say permanent, I mean it takes a year or two to wear off.)

"Time for dinner." I said as Mike rushed in the cabin door and Clara left to join her cabin. Another day was nearly done. Yipee.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Oh, by the way, one of my friends actually has a sweatshirt that says **_**suck it up. I'm prettier. **_**Casey and Clara might *cough*definitely*cough* be based on a few of my friends. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Son of the Love Goddess Chapter 2**

**Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan. **

**A/N: Thanks to my wonderful beta and friend, Kittycat32! If you haven't read her story, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Annabeth's Story, go read it now!**

_Love is like war; easy to begin, hard to end. -Someone_

Dinner was horrible. Don't get me wrong, the food was just as good as ever, but my family was not. My sisters were all still wearing their fashion show clothes and arguing about who had the best outfit, accessories, and shoes. Halfway through dinner I got bored of the giggling, squealing, and upset egos of vain girls.

I turned to Mike, who was sitting next to me, "Have fun earlier, Mike?" I asked quite innocently. Casey looked at the two of us. Her eyes moved from Mike's face to Maya's at the Apollo table and she laughed.

"I bet he did," she told me. "Almost as much fun as you had."

Mike snickered, but his face was redder than normal.

"You classify being beat up by an Ares kid, getting in trouble with a certain couple, and being forced to monitor a fashion show of vain girls fun?" I asked.

Terri called to me from further down the table, "Tyler! Tell Courtney what you told me."

I groaned, "Why me?" I mumbled to myself before saying, "I'm _not _repeating that. Ever." Especially not in the pavilion where, if I spoke loudly enough, the entire camp could hear me. Let's just say it had something to do with my opinion of one of the latest trends.

"I'm going home as soon as is physically possible." I muttered.

"So having girls drool all over you is better than having your sisters demand your service?" Casey asked.

Someday, I want to meet Casey's dad. He's got to have a real personality, because Casey's personality sure as Hades does not come from our mom.

"Yes. At least the girls elsewhere don't threaten me with love magic." I yawned, my eyes half-lidded.

"I'm coming with you." Casey said and I looked at her, eyes wide open.

"Why?"

"Because some idiot," Casey's eyes surveyed the girls around us, "thinks I need a make-over. And a date."

I couldn't help it. I started to laugh. Mike laughed with me. We were laughing so hard and loud that heads turned all over the pavilion. Mike nearly fell out of his seat because he was shaking so hard with laughter. I was just about to stop laughing when I saw the look on Casey's face. She doesn't like it when others try to improve her. If she wants a make-over, she'll do it herself. And Casey has no interest in dating anyone herself. She's only thirteen, but try telling that to my other sisters. (I say dating anyone herself, because Casey is perfectly happy to help out anyone who needs it. Whether or not they ask. When I pointed this out to her, she said that I was one to be talking.)

Our table fell silent as our sisters glared at us for interrupting their highly important discussion. The rest of the pavilion quieted as everyone looked at Mike and me, still laughing uproariously.

"Please tell me," I said to Casey, "which one of our dear sisters had that idea."

"Apparently it's a joint project," Casey scowled, her dark forehead scrunching up with displeasure.

"Who would dare go out with you?" Mike asked as he laughed.

"You two are going to have some seriously messed up faces if you don't shut up," Casey threatened, sounding more like an Ares kid than an Aphrodite kid. The entire pavilion was watching the scene with amusement.

"It's a tragedy. An Aphrodite girl who doesn't appreciate a good make-over," I said, as Casey stood up, her hands on her hips.

"Some family you are," Casey said and opened her mouth to deliver a smarting retort, "Thee dost dare to offend a daughter of Aphrodite and thee will-"

"Very funny, Case. But you aren't finishing that sentence." I interrupted her before she could finish the curse. I had taught her that one and I knew how proficient she was with it.

"Why? You don't want to turn into a dove for forty-eight hours?"

"Last time you used that curse, the person stayed in dove form for three years, not forty-eight hours."

"Whatever, Tyler. No way in Hades am I staying here with the sociopaths. I'm coming with you. End of story."

"Thank you for asking politely," I said as Casey marched out of the pavilion, triumphant, her pretty face framed by two locks of hair that had come down from her braid. Casey's eyes glittered as she tossed a smile in my direction and continued on her way back to the cabin.

Despite her trying to turn me into a dove, Casey is one of the reasons I am still sane. There are exactly four reasons my cabin of sisters has not driven me crazy. 1.) Casey, 2.) Clara, 3.) Mike, and 4.) my house (it technically belongs to my dad, but he's almost never there so he gave it to me). Clara is my best friend and Casey and Mike are my favorite siblings.

"Why didn't you let Casey turn you into a dove?" Clara asked as she paused at our table on the way out of the pavilion.

"I've been a dove before. Last time it took Casey several days to figure out how to undo the curse. I have enough issues without being absent for several days."

Clara smiled slightly and walked out of the pavilion with one of her siblings, the two of them playing catch with another ball of fire. I knew that I had to be at the campfire sing along with the rest of my cabin, but I had a couple hours until then. I said good-bye to Terri and headed off. Casey met me just before I cut through the forest. She looked immensely relieved when I didn't tell her to turn around and get her butt back to the cabin.

Casey didn't look so relieved about thirty minutes later, when I was talking to the neighbor's daughter in front of my house. Okay, so it wasn't so much talking as flirting, but please remember who my mom is. It's in my blood, and it's fun to talk (okay, flirt) with a normal mortal girl. Plus, this girl was pretty. Not Aphrodite-pretty, but still pretty. Casey got bored by our conversation and went into the house to poke around. I sincerely hoped she wasn't in my room going through my stuff. There were reasons I left stuff here instead of taking it to the cabin I shared with my siblings. Valid reasons.

"Hey, Amy!" One of several girls walking up the road called. The girl I was flirting with, presumably Amy, turned and smiled at the girls. You're probably thinking that, after living in my house for nearly three years, I should know the names of my neighbors. But Amy and her family had moved in only a couple weeks ago.

The small group of teenage girls came closer, saying hello to Amy and looking at me.

"Hey, I don't know if you remember me from school, I'm Tyler." I said with one of my quick and lazy smiles.

"TYLER!" came a shriek from inside the house.

"Casey, I told you that, if you were going to come with me, you had to leave me alone!" I yelled back.

"I found something of Terri's!" Casey yelled back.

"What happened to not snooping in my house?" I said as Casey poked her head out the door, "Of course you found something that belongs to Terri. First of all she's my twin, second of all she lives here too." I rolled my eyes at the girls and said, "This is Casey, my little, annoying sister."

Most of them smiled and giggled as Casey scowled.

"I'm locking you out." She announced.

"And I have the key." I said, opening my hand to reveal the house key.

Casey took one glance at the group of girls and disappeared back into the house. I talked to the girls for a while longer, I vaguely knew most of them from going to school with them.

I heard a loud laugh come from inside the house and I said, "I'll see you around. I need to go make sure Casey isn't wrecking my room."

The girls laughed as I waved good-bye and strolled into the house. Sure enough, Casey was in my room, going through my stuff.

"Get out." I told her.

"What's this?" Casey asked as she picked up the notebook that I thought I had destroyed.

"A failed experiment. Out."

I had tried to spell the notebook so it listed all the campers at Camp Half-Blood and their love status (couple, single, crush, etc.). The key word there being tried. It hadn't worked out so well. Every bit of information that the notebook contained was wrong. Plus it kind of ended up in someone's hands and caused a bit of trouble. I've still got the scars from that not so great experience. And I can no longer make anything to save my life. (Long story short- the high-tech Hephaestus cabin is not someplace I like to visit.)

"And this?" Casey held up an envelope.

"Personal." I said as I started to drag Casey out of my room. If she had already read that, I was going to kill her.

"It's pink. And it's addressed to you." Casey persisted. I took the envelope out of her hands, tossed it back into my room, and frog marched her out of my house and onto the road. "Guess what I found in Terri's room?"

"I don't want to know. Especially if it made you this excited." I eyed Casey's wide grin.

"Blackmail!" She squealed happily. I wasn't sure if she meant that it was information she could use to blackmail Terri or that Terri was already being blackmailed. Either way, it was going to give me more work. "I found a picture of Terri... with your dad on the beach."

I immediately knew which picture she was talking about. In it, Terri had a pretty bad sunburn, a bad hair day, and the ugliest swimsuit that anyone has ever seen. Definite blackmail material.

"Why do you have to hang out with the Hermes kids so much?" I groaned. I knew that this must have been where she'd gotten the idea from. The Hermes kids were always doing that kind of stuff.

"I learn stuff from them." Casey said with a slight smile.

"Couldn't you hang out with the Apollo cabin instead?"

"You mean, like Mike is?"

"Not quite like that."

We arrived at the fire just in time. It was the Aphrodite cabin's turn to pick a song to sing. So, naturally, my sisters picked a love song. I rolled my eyes at Mike. The song was half way through when my cell phone rang. I only had a cell phone so my dad could call me and I had thought I'd left it at my house. As a half-blood, having a cell was against a few rules. I frowned down at it and opened it, answering as I walked quickly away from the singing.

"Hello?"

"Tyler! I have some bad news. Your father is... in a facility for people with drug addictions. His boss fired him, but I've arranged for you to be taken care of. Since you're almost eighteen, the house belongs to you and you inherited some of his money. Will you and Terri be okay?"

"Yeah, Maria. We'll be fine. If necessary we can go to our camp year round. How's your situation?" I asked.

Maria takes care of both my dad and Terri, as well as me. Maria told me she would send me all the papers and things and that if I ever needed help I could call her. Of course, I would only call her if it wasn't something relating to us being half-god. That was not something she knew. I said goodbye and hung up.

My dad had never really been there for me or Terri. Never really been our dad. He was so worried about his business and his work that he never came home. And he had such an addiction to drugs that I wasn't even sure if he was fully aware that we existed. Outside of his work, he didn't pay attention to much other than his newest way to get high. Now we were year rounders. We had our own house instead of a dad.

I went back to the amphitheater. I didn't sit down next to my siblings and Clara though. I didn't sit down, I just stood at the edge of the circle, frowning. When the sing-along was over, I headed back to the cabins along with everyone else. Somehow I ended up a little too close to the Ares cabin.

"Move." A son of Ares said as he pushed past me with some of his siblings and Renee. They all knocked into me, almost sending me sprawling. Renee completely ignored me, which surprised me. Only, now that I thought about it, Renee only ever bullied me, or anyone else, when she's in the arena fighting, or is put on the spot by her siblings. That was weird. But she was still mean and vicious. Why does my mom love Ares?

"... the hunters are stopping by..."

"...that son of Nike asked out..."

"...son of Ares likes a daughter of Demeter..."

Ignoring the squeals and exchanges of bits of gossip, I strolled over to my brother and sat on his bed. He was sitting against the pink wall with his headphones on, listening to his iPod. He seemed to be doing more and more of that lately. It might have (cough, definitely, cough) had something to do with Maya.

"How's Maya?" I asked, curious to know the depths of my brothers feelings.

"Thank you, Tyler, for your heartfelt concern." Mike said, but I could still feel the surge of emotion- love, actually- that he felt.

"Maya? What about Maya?" Sophie asked, stopping the conversation about the hunters and the gossip channel updates.

"Thanks, Tyler." Mike said through gritted teeth.

"Mike likes Maya, a lot." Casey said with a smirk. Mike looked at her with disbelief.

"I swear, Casey, you're turning into a mini, female Tyler."

Casey grinned and said, "I present to you: The Mighty Duo, Casey and Tyler!"

There were more squeals as my sisters surrounded Mike and interrogated him. Mike looked defeated as he gave single syllable answers. Here's the thing. If you're going out with someone, or even if you just like someone, telling my sisters is like asking for help. And, unless you're insane or related to us (which, Clara tells me, is the same thing), their help is something you do not want. My, or Casey's, help on the other hand...

Casey and I exchanged looks, and I decided to spare my brother, "Hey, girls. When are the hunters coming?"

My sisters returned to their beds to gossip in comfort. "The hunters are coming for Capture the Flag tomorrow."

Casey's eyes gleamed. "Campers against hunters. That sounds fun."

"We'll give them a lesson about love."

"Whoa." I said before any of my sisters got turned into woodland animals by Lady Artemis, "We can teach them lessons in Capture the Flag, but no love magic. Artemis is a goddess."

"So? She doesn't believe in love!" Terri cried

.

"Lights out." I said before they came up with a plan to make the hunters fall in love. Because, seriously, the hunters of Artemis are totally wrong about the whole no-love thing, and I wanted to teach them a lesson, but I didn't want any of my sisters to be on the wrong end of Artemis's wrath. Though I did have a few ideas I could use...

The lights were out and all my sisters were asleep- nothing ruins beauty like lack of sleep- I sat up in my bed and put my head in my hands. I did that almost every night. I never slept well. It wasn't easy being me. I joked all the time about wishing that I had a different family, but, at night, I really wished I did. I didn't like being the son of the love goddess. I didn't like all my special powers that most girls would've loved. Most of all, I didn't like being at Camp Half-Blood, surrounded by people who knew who my mom really was. The winter was heaven in comparison. I saw Clara and Casey everyday because they were year-rounders at camp (Clara was an orphan and Casey's dad was in the military and couldn't be home most of the time, though he did come see her often) and I came by after school to check in. And I got to be normal. Normal. That's what I wished for and thought about it at night when everyone else was asleep. I could feel tears trying to get out and forced them back. I felt like I couldn't stay still, like I needed to move, and I knew my ADHD was getting the better of me. Annoyed, I flopped back down so I was laying down on my bed. I closed my eyes. The self-pity party was over.

Friday passed in a blur of chores and conversations about the upcoming Capture the Flag game. It was almost the entire camp against the hunters. I say almost because the Hypnos kids almost never got out of bed let alone played Capture the Flag. Chiron had declared that three cabin counselors would be the leaders of the camp team. The three cabin counselors were Annabeth (Athena's wisdom is always helpful), Clarisse (Ares' strength and warlike attitude might help), and me (Aphrodite's kids being natural enemies of the hunters). I wasn't looking forward to having to devise a proper plan with Clarisse and Annabeth. Neither of them especially liked me, even though Clarisse was sort of friendly to me, in her own way, upon occasion.

"We need a plan." Annabeth said as the three of us sat down in the arena after sword lessons. I was all bruised up and bloody from fighting Renee, but at least I wasn't shocked into unconsciousness.

Of course we needed a plan. Is Annabeth really a daughter of Athena?

Renee turned to us from where she was fighting a kid in Greek battle armor and said in her British accent, "Play to their weaknesses: boys and love. Play dirty." Her opponent tried to disarm her but she just swept his feet out from under him. The poor kid defeated, Renee moved on to her next opponent, Percy.

That was an interesting fight to watch, and we ended up putting our conversation on hold while we watched the two. Percy was winning, until he made the mistake of allowing himself come body to body with Renee. With a grin, Renee used her superior strength to dump the invulnerable son of Poseidon on his butt. Yawning slightly, as if she was bored, Renee sat not at all delicately on Percy's stomach and all the air whooshed out of him. Renee picked up Percy's sword and examined it contemplatively before sending it flying into a dummy like a javelin. Percy grunted, probably trying to say something, but Renee just took off her plumed helmet and shook out her hair before yawning again. After several minutes of attempted escape, Percy gave up. There was no way he could get out from under Renee's weight- combine the weight of a strong girl and the weight of a full suit of armor and it is pretty darn heavy- so he surrendered.

"Renee's right. We should play to their weaknesses." Annabeth said.

"Glad you have an amazing plan." Clarisse grumbled, still mad about something or other.

Ignoring Clarisse's comment, I said, "And I am, in essence, all of their weaknesses combined. This should be fun."

Annabeth gave me a death glare and used her Athena brain to create a strategy. And so began the wonderful evening of Capture the Flag.

**A/N: So what do you think? For any boys reading, I'm sorry if I didn't get Tyler quite right, not being a boy myself. Please remember that he is a son of Aphrodite and is constantly surrounded by girls. Also, I need some quotes, about love or fighting or war or romance, to put at the beginnings of chapters. If you could P.M. (private message) them to me, that would be great. Thanks!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Son of the Love Goddess Chapter 3**

**Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan. **

**A/N: So this may or may not be the weirdest Capture the Flag game ever written. Please forgive me. Also, I do not own any of the songs. Thanks to Kittycat32 for putting up with all my nonsense and for fixing my grammar!**

"_The great tragedy of life is not that people perish, but that they cease to love." - W. Somerset Maughan_

"Ready?" Annabeth asked.

I nodded and so did Clarisse. We were in the middle of the forest and the rest of the camp surrounded us. Including my cabin. Usually, everyone from my cabin but Casey, Mike, and occasionally me sat out during Capture the Flag. Today we were ready to fight.

Clarisse and Annabeth walked over to the cabins that they had been given command over. I went to the Aphrodite and Eros cabins. I was in command of my siblings and my niece and nephews (Aphrodite is Eros's mom so Eros is my half-brother and the three children of Eros are my niece and nephews).

"Terri, Courtney," I said, "you'll be guarding the flag with some other kids. Melanie, Sophie, you have border patrol. I'll show you where I need you. Mike, Casey, you'll be with me. Eros kids, you have free reign. Cause mischief. Do you have your arrows of love?"

The three of them nodded, looking delighted.

"Move out!" Clarisse bellowed and everyone went to their positions. I stayed where I was with Mike and Casey, quickly explaining what we were going to do.

Clarisse, Renee, and most of their brothers walked up to us. I looked at them, slightly doubtful before turning to Mike.

"Mike, call all the doves you can find," I said and Mike screwed up his face, concentrating. "Casey, let's see how much of a mini-me you are."

Casey grinned. "I think I got it down. I just need to make sure I reinforce the limitations."

"Great." I turned to the Ares kids, my hand on my sister's arm. "Mike, Case, one of them corners you and you turn them into a dove. No hesitation."

My teammates-slash-siblings nodded and we turned to the sons of Ares. "Don't kill me for this. We can't spell all of you- just a few. It'll be too dangerous otherwise."

"We agreed to this already, punk." Clarisse growled and I shrugged.

"Casey?"

Casey nodded and held up her hand. She splayed her fingers so she was pointing at two of the bulky sons of Ares. Her eyes were wide, like she was in a trance, and a soft pink glow was flowing out of her fingers to fall onto the two boys. Once I saw that she had it under control I did the same, pointing at three other boys. The pointing wasn't strictly necessary- it just made it easier and more theatrical.

_Fall in love. Fall in love with the hunters. Fall in love with the hunters for three hours. Remember your loyalty to your family. Convince them to join you. Fall in love. Fall in love with the hunters. Fall in love with the hunters for three hours... _

I repeated it several times, the shook myself out of my trance. The five sons of Ares that Casey and I had spelled looked no different than before, but I could feel the effects of the spell on their emotions.

"It worked," Casey said, sounding surprised.

"It did." My voice was hoarse and I was exhausted.

"Then let's go," Renee said in her British accent as the conch horn sounded. I helped Casey to her feet and she shook off the remnants of the trance. Mike was ready to go, he had called a large flock of doves to the air above the forest and they were ready to come down if we needed them. Our group ran slowly through the forest, nodding to the demigods we passed on our way.

Once we were at the border, Annabeth and Travis Stoll joined us, telling us where the flag was. We ran toward it, stopping when we saw the several defending hunters around their flag. They started to shoot arrows at us, but the sons of Ares that were magicked walked forward. Little annoyances like arrows never stop the children of Ares.

They moved closer and closer to the girls, looking at them like boys in love. The girls noticed this and tried to get them to back off, but the rest of our team was already attacking. Casey and I moved closer to the battle as she slipped her hand into mine. Our group was losing, the sons of Ares falling back. Clarisse and Renee were battling ferociously, holding their own, but they couldn't reach the flag without help.

We couldn't call down the doves because they were only helpful if we needed to slow down pursuers. I could feel Casey's tiny hand in mine and her ebbing strength. I took the little strength she had left as I swung her up onto my back. Then I concentrated the strength I had taken from her and the strength I had left to cast a love spell on the defenders of the flag.

It was a desperate move, one that would probably get me turned into a stag by Lady Artemis, but I had to do it. The effects were immediate. I made sure that the hunters fell in love with the boys who didn't have love magic on them, as the girls staggered towards the boys that their eyes had fallen upon, Renee and Clarisse grabbed the flag and started to retreat. Mike and I joined them, Mike still concentrated on the doves above us. If we were lucky, we could make it all the way back to the border without meeting another hunter. We weren't lucky.

A group of them emerged from the trees and started shooting arrows at us. One almost hit Casey who was asleep on my back and another snagged Renee's hair.

"Bloody hunters," She muttered. "Love kids, distractions would be helpful."

Renee was obviously talking to me and Mike.

"Mike," I said through gritted teeth as the pure amount of love magic I had used took toll on me.

"Got it," Mike said as the sounds of hundreds of flapping wings came closer and closer. The doves were descending into the forest. Within seconds, everything behind us was a flurry of white wings and soft coos.

The doves gave us the break we needed and we made it over the border right before the hunters caught up with us. We arrived just in time, because Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus and lieutenant of the hunters, had our flag in her hand as she ran for the border. Thalia was wincing and holding her nose as she glared at the hunters who followed in our wake. I guessed that Courtney's idea about using perfume as a defense had worked. The stuff she wears can be horrifying in large quantities.

Everyone was grinning and whooping and congratulating Clarisse and Renee. Mike was holding his head as he tried not to fall over. I lowered Casey gently to the ground. The celebratory noise was disrupted by a shriek of dismay. Courtney, Terri, Mel, and Sophie were racing towards us, looking horrified at the state that Casey, Mike, and I were in.

"What's wrong with her?" Terri demanded.

"Exhausted. Used too much magic," Mike mumbled as he collapsed onto the ground in a heap.

"No kidding," I murmured.

Terri looked confused, "But you were only casting five love spells between the two of you."

"I might have cast a spell or two on the Hunters." I said as everyone watched us in near silence.

The silence was disrupted by the zap of lightning sparks. Oh, man.

"You did what?" Thalia asked, her shield extended, advancing on us.

"The spells will wear off in…" I squinted at the Ares boys. "Three hours for the sons of Ares and maybe an hour after that for the Hunters."

My doom was confirmed when the Hunters that I had placed the spell on stumbled into the group, their eyes fixed on the objects of their affections.

I snickered and my eyes flicked over the crowd as I looked for one person in particular. "Maya," I called and she walked forward hesitantly. "Can you help me wake up Casey? I need to reverse the spells, but I can't do it without her."

Maya nodded and knelt next to my unconscious sister. She gave her some nectar and ambrosia and Casey woke up, exhausted, but able to help me.

"Ty," Casey said as she held out her hand to me. I took her hand and we stood up. We both extended our free hands and splayed them at those we wanted to de-spell.

"This will be harder than it was before," I warned Casey, "If you need to stop, stop. I can finish on my own."

Casey nodded and together we sank into the trance. We called the love magic back to us, removing it from the bodies and minds of our victims. It returned to us reluctantly and we turned as one to the hunters. That was harder. My spell hadn't exactly been well placed, what with my exhaustion and lack of time. By the time that the spells were undone, both of us were ready to collapse.

The celebration had resumed by the time we were back to earth, but the Hunters sure as Hades were not celebrating. They were all giving us death glares.

"You just made some major enemies," Clara informed me as she helped Casey and I back to our cabin. In front of us, Maya was helping Mike back. Behind us, the entire camp was celebrating at the win. The Hunters had beat the camp forty-seven or so times and we had just beaten them. Of course, that didn't make me any less tired.

"Wow," Maya muttered as she helped Mike to his bed. I guessed that she had never had reason to go into the Aphrodite cabin before. She was seeing the large closets, tons of make-up and shoes, and overall pinkness for the first time.

"Ow is more like it," I said as I sat down on my bed. Since I hadn't participated in any of the actual fighting, I shouldn't have any physical injuries, but my body still hurt. It was the price I paid for using so much magic at once. "In the future, Clara, I'll just leave the magic to you and your siblings."

"I don't do love magic. That's your area of expertise," Clara said as she walked out of the cabin, looking like she never wanted to see pink again in her life.

"Why did I come up with that plan?"

"It was fun." Casey said with a giant yawn.

"Sleep," Maya commanded, "Sleep, ambrosia, and nectar, and you'll be fine."

She handed Casey the tiniest bit of ambrosia and handed Mike and I each a regular serving. Casey had already had some so she couldn't have much more without going straight to the Underworld. Plus Casey was so much smaller.

Casey closed her eyes and fell asleep. I said, "Thanks. She's never done that before."

Maya nodded, "No problem. You should sleep, too."

I took off my armor and closed my eyes. Maya gave Mike a chaste kiss and left the cabin as the three of us sank into peaceful sleep.

Well, it would've been peaceful if not for stupid demigod dreams. This dream was strange and I was sure it was of the past.

_A pretty woman with slightly tanned skin, an unusual amount of muscle, and masses of curly auburn hair, cradled a baby boy in her arms. A little girl, maybe six or seven years old, sat timidly to the side __of the happy mom and her baby. _

"_Mom?" The little girl asked in a quiet voice with a British accent, "Why are you mad at me?"_

"_Quiet." The woman said with the same accent. "You'll wake him."_

_The little girl shrank back, looking beyond terrified. _

_A short time passed as the mother cooed to her baby and the baby slept peacefully. The little girl started to fidget, like she had ants in her pants. _

"_Mom?" She said in the same quiet voice. "Can I go practice?"_

"_No. Stay still."_

"_I can't. I'll go far enough away so he won't be able to hear me..."_

"_I said no! You're a bloodthirsty monster. Go to your room." _

_The little girl was crying as she ran upstairs. _

I had no clue what- who, actually- the dream was about and why I was dreaming about it. With demigod dreams, there's always a reason. And maybe that's why I was so spooked about the dream. Why would _I _be dreaming about a little girl and her mom? I sat in silence through the entirety of breakfast (I'd slept through the entire evening and night), but I was back to my normal self, or nearly so, by lunch.

The lunch gossip was all about what everyone was going to wear to the party on the beach that night. It was Maya's birthday and the entire Apollo cabin was hosting a party for her, a party that everyone was invited to. Which meant my sisters were going crazy about their outfits.

"Tyler!" Mel called to me, practically in hysterics, "Should I wear my pink bikini?"

"Sure. Over top of it wear your jean shorts," I said with as I looked at Casey, "What're you wearing?"

"Clothes." Casey said as she shook out her long, dark hair.

I rolled my eyes and turned to Mike. He was glancing at Maya and smiling as she stuck her tongue out at him. I moved my mouth to his ear so no one could hear me as I whispered to him, "Do one thing for me."

Mike turned to me, looking puzzled. He nodded his head slightly.

I continued whispering in his ear, "I won't report you sneaking out of our cabin later if you promise to tell her how you really feel."

Mike flinched, but whispered into my ear, "I promise to tell her... soon."

"She's not going to run away from you," I whispered back, knowing that that was what he was so worried about.

Mike frowned and concentrated on his sandwich, looking ready to talk about something else. Lucky for Mike, a distraction arrived after lunch.

Casey, Mike, Clara, and I were walking aimlessly around the camp. Out of nowhere, the most beautiful woman in the world appeared right in front of us. She was amazing, but I wasn't attracted to her. If I was someone else, this would've made Aphrodite really mad, but she's my mom so it's completely understandable. My mom smiled at Mike and Casey- also her children- and acknowledged Clara. Then she turned to me, with a large smile.

"Tyler, dear, you deserve a reward," My mom said to me and I immediately began to feel like getting my mom's attention wasn't necessarily a good thing.

"A reward for idiocy," Clara muttered under her breath.

My mom ignored Clara and smiled at me. "A reward for beating the Hunters of Artemis." Aphrodite's smile turned into a beam as she said the worst thing in the world "And so you will find true love. I'll be helping of course. It's just so sweet!"

So you're probably wondering why finding true love is the worst thing in the world. Well, there are two reasons. One, this is my mom talking. She thinks that its so much more romantic if the two people involved have to overcome all sorts of barriers. My mom is a big fan of the whole Twilight scenario (I haven't read the book, I'm dyslexic, but my sisters endlessly argue about who is better, Jacob or Edward) meaning she likes it to be dramatic, not that it needs to involve _empousae_. Two, I had a bad feeling that she already had someone in mind and an even worse feeling that I knew who she was talking about.

"True love is what I reward the best of my children with. Like Silena," Mom continued.

"Lady Aphrodite?" Clara asked, "Would you mind telling us who?"

"Not Tyler. He has to find out for himself. And I want Casey and Mike to figure it out," My mom said and my stomach did a complicated series of flips.

Clara looked into my mom's eyes and apparently saw the answer there because she started to smile. Wide. Oh no. I was in soo much trouble.

I was distracted for the rest of the day, wondering about what fate lay in store for me. I only really came back to earth when it was time for Maya's party. No one was eating dinner, because there would be food and a campfire and swimming and, of course, music at the party. I arrived at the party right when the Apollo cabin started the music.

Maya's party doubled as the welcoming ceremony for the newest Apollo kid. The new girl looked scared as her siblings set up all the instruments and started playing a song. The Apollo band- every kid in the Apollo cabin plays or sings and they all do it together, taking turns with who does what- played three songs and then it was the new girl's turn. She had been brought to camp by Matt, a son of Hephaestus. She stepped up to the front, a guitar in her hands and cleared her throat. Everyone fell silent to watch her.

"Hi. I'm Lela. I'm going to sing a song called Never." Lela glanced around and her eyes found Matt, who smiled reassuringly. Maya elbowed Lela and she added, "I wrote it about myself."

She played a few chords on her guitar before tuning it and starting over. She played the same few cords and closed her eyes.

"_Never cried so hard in my life,_

_never thought it would end this way,_

_tryin' to avoid you is hard_

_and its taking my breath away_

_And I'm never, ever going to let you bring me down_

_pushing you away 'till it's safe and sound_

_can't sit still while you're around_

_battle through to the end_

_awaitin' for itself to mend_

_whoa-oh whoa-whoa-oh_

_You give me a headache just by looking at you_

_giving me the feeling don't know what to do_

_but I have to be strong_

_and then it won't seem so long_

_And I'm never, ever going to let you bring me down_

_pushing you away 'till it's safe and sound_

_can't sit still while you're around_

_battle through to the end_

_awaitin' for itself to mend_

_whoa-oh whoa-whoa-oh_

_I'm never, ever going to let you bring me down_

_pushing you away 'till it's safe and sound_

_can't sit still while you're around_

_battle through to the end_

_awaitin' for itself to mend_

_whoa-oh whoa-whoa-oh_

_Don't bring me down."_

Lela finished by opening her eyes and blushing as everyone clapped. Nearly everyone, that is. The Ares cabin didn't look in the least bit impressed. They only listen to loud rock music, so it wasn't surprising that they didn't appreciate this song.

Matt watched her with admiration burning bright in his eyes.

"Hey, Matt?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"You should tell her," I said. Really. How many times in one day could I say this?

"Tell who?" Matt said, acting dumb.

I rolled my eyes, "Lela. Don't tell me you don't like her."

Matt looked at his feet and mumbled something about needing food. I smiled, I had another situation to monitor and work on.

_Something to keep your mind off the dream. _A part of me that sounded much too close to Clara and Casey chimed in without being invited to do so.

I tried to enjoy the rest of the party, but I'm afraid I failed miserably. The image of the little girl played over and over in my head, her face confused and scared, her mother uncaring as she sent her daughter away. About an hour after my conversation with Matt, someone sung a song that caught my attention.

_What'cha gonna do with the 36 cents  
Sticky with Coke on your floorboard  
When a woman on the street is huddled in the cold  
On a sidewalk vent trying to keep warm  
Do you call her over hand her the change  
Ask her a story ask her her name  
Or do you tell yourself_

You're just a fool  
Just a fool  
To believe you can change the world  
You're just a fool  
Just a fool  
To believe you can change the world  
  
I listened to the rest of the song before leaving the party and going to the forest. The words of the song echoed through my head as I paced restlessly in the forest. The melody hummed throughout my body. _You're just a fool to believe you can change the world_. Change the world. What was I trying to do every time I got a couple together? I was trying to make them happier, because I knew they would be better together than apart. I wanted to help the little girl, I wanted to help my fellow demigods, I wanted to help. The sound of crunching footsteps in the forest near me, prompted me to realize my lack of proper weapons. Not wanting to go back to the party, I fled to my cabin.

As I tossed and turned, trying to sleep, I came to a decision. I would most definitely try to find out who that little girl was.

**A/N: Review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Son of the Love Goddess Chapter 4**

**Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan.**

"_There is never a time or place for true love. It happens in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment." -Sarah Dessen_

I had more than one dream that night. As I dreamed them, I understood that the series of dreams was a collection of snapshots of the little girl's life.

First was the same dream as I had had the night before.

_A pretty woman with slightly tanned skin, an unusual amount of muscle, and masses of curly auburn hair, cradled a baby boy in her arms. A little girl, maybe six or seven years old, sat timidly to the side of the happy mom and her baby. _

"_Mom?" The little girl asked in a quiet voice with a British accent, "Why are you mad at me?"_

"_Quiet__,__" The woman said with the same accent. "You'll wake him."_

_The little girl shrank back, looking beyond terrified. _

_A short time passed as the mother cooed to her baby and the baby slept peacefully. The little girl started to fidget, like she had ants in her pants._

"_Mom?" She said in the same quiet voice. "Can I go practice?"_

"_No. Stay still."_

"_I can't. I'll go far enough away so he won't be able to hear me..."_

"_I said no! You're a bloodthirsty monster. Go to your room." _

_The little girl was crying as she ran upstairs. _

_The little girl was standing, arms crossed as she glared at a little boy who looked about two years old. Tears were running down her face as she whispered, not to him, but to the air, "Does anyone love me? I never met dad and mum loves her little boy instead of me." She said it so quietly that I had to read her lips to understand what she was saying._

_The girl's mother came in and picked up the two year old, cradling him once again in her arms and cooing to him. _

"_You were scaring him!" The mother cried to her angry daughter. _

"_I __wasn't," the__ girl said in a voice that was infinitely different from what her voice had sounded like in the last dream. I could clearly hear it now. Two years had passed, and the girl had changed quite a bit. Her voice was hardened, angry, defiant, and more heavily accented. _

"_Poor boy, poor little th__ing," the__ mother crooned, rocking her toddler in her arms as he giggled. _

_They were in an island resort, the woman, the little boy, and the little girl. Only the little girl wasn't so little anymore. She looked to be about twelve years old and just as unhappy as before. A waiter walked over with a platter of food. The woman and her son tucked into the food delightedly while the girl watched her brother and mother eat with hunger in her eyes._

"_I'm hungry." The girl's voice was even less like the timid and young child in my first dream. The words were a declaration of anger and injustice._

"_You get nothing. I had to visit the principal's office after your first week at that new school! Not only were your grades and behavior unacceptable, but you were bullying everyone."_

"_I wasn't bullying anyone. Laura was l__ying," the girl said with marked anger, her arms crossed against her chest, her face set with anger__, her hands curled into fists. _

"_You are a bully and a vicious creature." The mother said with undeniable loathing. _

"_Mom!" The shriek was loud and desperate as it tore from the throat of the girl. She wasn't a girl anymore, but a teenager. She was in an open field, a monster that I recognized as a hydra in front of her, intent on having lunch. To her left was a large and open house with a porch winding all the way around its first floor. In a white lounging chair was her mother, sipping lemonade and looking not the least bit concerned that her daughter was a second from dying. _

"_Mom, help!__" the__ girl cried again as she turned to look at her mom. And that was when I recognized her. Renee._

"_Irenee! Don't bother me with your silly requests." Renee's mom said as she enjoyed her drink._

_Renee stared at her mom, looking more and more like the girl I knew with every passing second. _

"_I hate y__ou," she w__hispered under her breath. Then she turned to the monster in front of her. I started to feel sorry for the hydra, such amounts of ferocity and anger were in her every movement. With a slight golden shimmer, a spear appeared in her hand. The spearhead was on fire as Renee used her new weapon to cut off one hydra head after another. _

_I was pretty sure that Renee had never before touched a spear in her life, but she moved with the weapon like it was a natural part of her arm. When the creature was dead, Renee marched back to the house, the spear still in her hand. _

I woke up, amazed. The little girl was Renee. I needed to talk to someone about this. Not any of my siblings. Not Clara- she held a grudge against Renee. I couldn't think of any other campers that I could possibly talk to.

No way was I telling Renee that I had dreamed about her life before Camp Half-Blood. I actually liked having a fully functional body.

So, I went to talk to Chiron. As I looked for him, I began to seriously doubt that this was a good idea. Because I had a feeling that my dreams had something to do with my mom's "reward". Which meant I would have to explain not only the dreams, but also my conversation with my mom to Chiron.

Resigning myself to this, I decided that I would talk to Chiron in private. Of course, I should've guessed that it wouldn't be nearly that simple. Finding Chiron would have been beyond easy, if I didn't have all the Eros and Aphrodite kids asking me for help.

"Tyler!" Melanie called, looking a little out of control. Her hair was twisting in one hundred different directions and her shirt clashed horribly with her hair. She looked like she was hyperventilating. And there were tears in her eyes.

"Yeah, Mel?" I asked, changing direction so I could talk her into relaxing a little. A worked up Mel is the last thing that this camp needs, because, I swear, no monster is as dangerous as she is when she's boiling over.

"Courtney said my hair is repulsive and my shirt is ugly!" Melanie cried, tears streaming down her face. This happens from time to time, when she's having a really bad day. She takes all the insults and criticisms that are aimed at her and enlarges them until she's really upset.

"Mel," I said, "Can't Terri help you with that better than I can?"

Mel shook her head and her hair flopped around. "Terri is s-sleeping. I tried to wake her up, but she told me to take my issues somewhere else."

I mentally cursed Terri's words. She had made my job that much harder. "Don't believe Courtney or Terri, Mel. They're both just grumpy because they didn't get enough sleep."

"I look horrendous," Melanie sobbed.

Shoot. It was going to take more than that to calm her down this time. "You're just having a bad hair day and you forgot that that shade clashes with your hair. If you have a hairbrush, I can fix your hair, and you can go change your shirt. Then you'll be good."

"Here," Melanie sniffled, and I realized that the make-up she had been wearing wasn't waterproof. She was going to need to reapply. She handed me her hairbrush.

I gently brushed out her hair, but it was stilling twirling and twisting in every direction. Using my masculine (NOT) skills, I braided her hair. Trust me, when you spend every summer with a cabin of sisters and you have a looks-slash-fashion obsessed twin sister, you learn to do a few things like braid hair.

"There. Go change your shirt and reapply your make-up. Then you'll be as pretty as everyone else."

Melanie thanked me, wiped away a tear and half her mascara, and gave me a big hug.

I raised my eyebrow as she pulled away.

"Thanks. Casey was right," Melanie clapped her hand over her mouth, looking like she'd just said something bad and ran back to our pink cabin. Huh. Wonder what Casey said about me. Knowing Casey, it was either something bad that she'd said as a joke, or something nice that she'd actually meant.

I started walking towards where I figured Chiron would be, but was stopped by a son and daughter of Eros. They both had their bows in their hands and their quivers of love arrows on their backs.

"If anyone asks, say we were hanging with you, 'kay?" The boy said as his eyes darted around. Their quivers seemed to be oddly depleted of arrows.

"You'll get a case of soda from the Stoll brothers if you do," the girl said as she shifted her grip on her bow.

"Sure. Just don't expect me to get you out of any messes," I said, even though it was useless. All three of us knew that, if anyone in the Aphrodite or Eros cabins was in trouble, I'd do everything I could to help. I did it all the time. Hey, they're not _all _bad. Plus the Eros and Aphrodite cabins are fiercely loyal to each other. We're family. (Which, by the way, means that if you're a child of Aphrodite you don't date a child of Eros, and vice versa, even though we're the only cabins who have qualms about dating people from other cabins. Gods don't have DNA.)

"Deal," the boy said. I know their names, but I never use them. They just don't seem to fit. The boy's name is Amor. The girl's is Lilliana.

They fell in step with me for a few minutes, before darting off to do something that the boy said was "highly important". I didn't ask, mostly because I didn't want to know. If I tried to keep up with everything going on in both my cabin and my brother's (Eros's) cabin, then I would go crazy within five minutes.

I passed by a group of Ares kids, Renee was with them, looking pretty darn mad. And her anger was directed at the Hermes cabin, who was cowering in front of her. Well, Chris Rodriguez wasn't cowering. I guess he had gotten used to the Ares kids, what with him dating Clarisse and all.

"Which one of you took my weapons?" Renee spit out, her British accent so thick it was almost impossible to understand her.

"What weapons?" Travis asked. Huge mistake.

Renee's fist made contact with his belly as she said, "All of my guns, spears, swords, maces, and daggers. Including the magical ones."

Whoa. I seriously didn't want to be the Hermes cabin right then. It sounded like someone had robbed Renee's personal armory and taken all of it. Except the spear she had in her hand, glimmering ominously.

"We don't have them," One Hermes kid squeaked, his eyes fixated on the sharp end of the spear.

"Then who does?" Renee asked.

"Whoa, Renee," Chris said.

"I'm sure Clarisse won't mind if I only damage you a little, Rodriguez." Renee said, turning on Chris.

Chris held his hands up in the air, in defeat, and I felt sympathetic. Because, believe me, I have been Renee's pincushion long enough to know how it feels.

"How do you know it was us, Renee?"

"Who else would-" Renee started to say, but then she turned. Her eyes were focused on a figure standing at the top of Half-Blood Hill. I decided to keep walking before her eyes fell on me and she decided that her favorite dummy wasn't bruised up enough.

I managed to find Chiron. But I was stopped from talking to him by a squealing, giggling, and giddy Sophie.

"Tyler! I have a date tonight!" She said.

"Great, Soph. Have a nice time. And don't break any rules," I said, knowing that the last part was never going to happen. For Sophie, rules are just inconveniences. Kind of reminds me of the Stoll brothers, only the rules Sophie breaks are quite different.

"Ooh! I need to talk to Terri!" Sophie said and ran towards the cabin without a backward glance at me.

Then, finally, I got to talk to Chiron.

"Chiron?" I asked.

"Yes, Tyler?"

"Can I talk to you?"

"Of course-" Chiron abruptly stopped speaking as the sound of yelling and screaming voices reached our ears. He gave me a quizzical look and I shrugged.

"Not any of my sisters. They're in the cabin shrieking about Sophie's date," I rolled my eyes, but Chiron was still concentrated on the irate voices.

Chiron frowned as the yelling got louder. Then he whirled about and cantered off. I sighed and sprinted off after him. I arrived at an ugly scene. Renee was standing with her fists curled up, one hand around a celestial bronze spear. Standing a few feet away from her was an almost identical, but older woman. The woman from my dream. Renee's mom. Renee's brother was a few feet away from the two furious females. I wasn't sure if he was a regular mortal or a half-blood, but that was kind of beside the point.

"Give them back to me! Now!" Renee bellowed looking beyond furious.

"No. Renee, that type of weaponry isn't good for you," the woman responded in a British accent so thick I could barely understand her.

"Good for me?" Renee spluttered, "Do you remember who my father is?"

"Of course I do." The woman glared at Renee. "These people are only encouraging your bloodthirsty nature, so you're coming with your brother and me to England."

"Leaving? You really think that I am leaving with you and him so that you can blame me when monsters come after us?" Renee looked like she was about to run someone through.

"Irenee! You need to get your head on straight," Renee's mom snapped and I gaped at her. She was seriously asking for a beating.

"I could say the same to you," Renee snapped as she advanced on her brother. She slung her brother over her shoulder and looked at her mom. "Give it back to me or your precious son is going to need a dentist and an emergency room."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Like Ares you don't. Give me Fire-biter!"

I nearly whistled. Fire-biter was Renee's spear-slash-gun. In its usual form, it was a gun, but when she pressed a button on one of the sides it turned into a spear with a flaming spearhead. It was her favorite weapon and it sounded like her mom had taken it.

"You're unstable."

"Fine," Renee said as she held her hand to her half-brother's throat.

"Here!" Renee's mother called as she took a gun out of her purse (who carries a gun in their purse?) and handed it to Renee.

Renee set her brother down and glared at her mom, "You've been nicking my stuff." Her British accent was heavier than ever and I realized that, not counting my the last of my dreams, I had never seen Renee this angry. And dreams didn't really do her anger justice. She looked dangerous enough to take on every monster in the world.

"You shouldn't be here, Renee. You should be at the new school I found for you."

"Another school for disturbed kids? No way. Give me my belongings and get out of my life," Renee said as she held her gun in one hand and aimed her spear at her mom.

The woman appeared to have had enough because she merely said, "You ever interrupt my life again and I will kill you myself."

I wondered if I was the only who noticed that Renee's eyes were too bright and slightly glassy, like she was going to cry. Renee's mom turned around and set a bulging backpack down on the ground as she started to walk away, her son following her. Renee picked up the backpack and unzipped it.

Out came so many weapons of so many types that, if I hadn't known better, I could've sworn that that was all the weapons in the camp armory. But no, Renee's personal stash of weapons was just as large as the armory for the _entire camp. _Jeez.

"No wonder you attracted Dad's attention," Renee said bitterly, "It really is too bad my weapons don't work on you." And then Renee turned and saw the people that had been attracted by the yelling. She gave the entire crowd a death glare so potent that they scattered. It might have been the maces, battle axes, swords, daggers, and countless other weapons (including guns) that were scattered at her feet that convinced everyone that now was not a great time to be near her.

I remained where I was next to Chiron, thinking about my dreams and the scared and timid girl that had turned into the violent bullying teenager.

Renee was more ferocious than ever. In the days following her argument with her mother she threw herself into training with such ferocity that not even Clarisse and Chiron dared to stop her from practicing when it was time to go to sleep.

Chiron eventually had to tell Renee that she couldn't fight with other demigods anymore because she had sent so many campers to the infirmary. So Renee took her fury out on monsters that she summoned to the woods. Everyone avoided her, even her siblings; staying well away from her boiling anger. All this is why I was so surprised by what I saw on my way back to camp.

I had gone to my dad's house to get away from my sisters for a couple hours and I was cutting back through the woods so I could be back at the cabin on time. I heard a slight sniffle and I stopped. The sniffling was coming from the other side of a tree.

I went around the tree and there was Renee. Crying. Her hands were in her red hair and tears covered her cheeks. She heard me and looked up. She picked up the gun that was laying next to her, but her hand lacked any strength. She didn't even bother to point it at me.

Renee only moved her face away from me and put her hands over her eyes. "Please go away."

I was shocked. One, because she had never ever said please to anyone before and two, because the weakness and despair in her voice made me think that she was entirely another girl from the one who had beat me up on a daily basis. It reminded me so much of the girl who had asked her mom if she could go practice.

"What's wrong?" I asked and then realized the huge mistake I had made. This was Renee. _Renee. _I was in soo much trouble.

"Nothing," Renee turned away from me, but didn't stand up.

The dreams played in my mind, yet again. Renee's mom had evidently always thought her to be a violent bully and the rest of her cabin and the rest of the camp, expected violence and bullying from the kids of Ares. So when had Renee ever had the chance to be herself in front of others? Except, I had seen her transformation from little girl into bully.

"This camp is full of people with stories about problems with their parents. Can't one of them understand?"

"What would you, Mister Perfect, know about parent issues?" Renee asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

I said it nonchalantly. "My dad is addicted to drugs. Instead of him taking care of us, his secretary has made arrangements for us since we were very young." I stopped and thought back to what I had said.

Oops. I had unconsciously slipped into the plural of a twin. It didn't really matter, because I figured that Renee was going to beat me up either way.

"Oh," Renee said quietly.

I decided not to ask the question that was burning at my insides. It was probably a wise decision.

Saying, "Aren't you going to beat me up?" would result in me getting beat up. Instead, I said, "Why are you out here?" Then I winced. Just as bad. "I mean, everyone is supposed to be in the cabins."

"You're out here."

"I'm on my way back from my house."

"So? How is that any better than me sitting in the forest?" Renee asked, her voice lacking any strength that would've made it sound threatening.

"It's not. I was just curious why there aren't any monsters attacking you."

"I'm tired," Renee said simply, but I guessed that it wasn't anywhere near as simple as physical exhaustion.

I sat down next to her, "May I sit here?"

"No." Renee said, but, once again, her voice lacked the conviction necessary to make me leave.

I didn't move. But I whispered, "It hurts."

Renee's eyes brimmed with tears, but she said, "What part of 'no' did you hear as 'yes'?"

"Believe me, Renee, it hurts. I still love my dad, even though I haven't seen him when he wasn't high in years."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Renee said, but her voice was strained and it trembled a little. Why I was sticking around, I had no idea. I just knew that the little scared and quiet girl was still in Renee somewhere, and Renee was about to snap.

"An excellent fighter you may be, excellent at lying you are not." I said with a slight smile.

"As wonderful as you are with messing up people's feelings and keeping order in your cabin, you suck at obeying orders, Yoda," Renee retorted.

"Renee?" A voice called out.

"You tell anyone about this..." Renee hissed and her voice actually sounded as menacing as it did in the fighting arena when I was on the pointy end of her spear.

I smiled slightly and whispered, "I'm not stupid."

Then I returned to the path and my cabin before whoever was looking for Renee found her. Whatever had just happened in the forest, it had been one strange encounter.


	5. Chapter 5

**Son of the Love Goddess Chapter 5**

**Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan.**

**A/N: Thanks once more to Kittycat32 for beta-ing this! Go read her awesome stories...**

_Love is who is not on my to-kill list. -Someone. _

Seriously, people? Why, why, why?

"Tyler!" Sophie moaned.

"I don't want to hear it, Sophie."

"But I didn't know he was going out with her. How was I supposed to know that she'd see us?"

"You personally sabotaged their relationship."

"So?"

Obviously the whole you-just-single-handedly-ruined-two-people's-lives thing was not flying with Sophie. So I tried the you-just-ruined-three-months-worth-of-work route.

"You know how long it took me to get them to realize they liked each other? You know how much longer it took to get Jake to ask Laura out?" I asked.

"I said I'm sorry. Gods," Sophie snapped as she crossed her arms.

"Sorry isn't good enough." I yelled at her. "_This _is why everyone in camp thinks we're selfish. Because you and the others do stupid things and then don't even pretend to be sorry. Because you don't care how self-centered and cruel the things you do are! You have to at least try!"

Maybe I should go back a bit and explain where I was and why I was yelling at Sophie. I had been sitting out side my cabin, relaxing and talking to Clara when Jake (son of Iris) had come up to me looking furious. Out of the corner of my eye I'd seen Laura (daughter of Nike) running into her cabin sobbing.

Jake had given me a furious glare and punched me in the belly before saying, "Tell your sister that she isn't welcome in my cabin."

Sophie had wandered up a few minutes later contemplating her nails and gossiping with Terri. I'd heard her say, "Jake, you know, the son of Iris, he is sooo touchy."

At which point I'd asked her what she'd done and what was going on. She'd proceeded to tell me that she had told Terri that Jake was a better kisser than some other guy. To prove it, she'd kissed him, not knowing or caring that he already had a girlfriend. His girlfriend, Laura, had seen them and run off in tears. That's when I scolded her and she moaned at me.

"Jeesh," Sophie muttered, "Whatever."

And Sophie turned entirely pink. She started squealing and crying.

"Whatever," I imitated her. "Still think this is nothing?"

"I'm pink!" Sophie cried in despair.

"Good," I hissed at her. "You can stay pink for the next three years of your life or you can go apologize."

"I'll go with pink," Sophie muttered, sticking her chin out stubbornly. By that time an audience had gathered watching us.

"Of course you will. Sophie, I think you'll find that the trash in the cabin needs to be taken out."

"But I have to help Terri get ready for her date!"

"Oh. Didn't I mention?" I raised one eyebrow. "No one in our cabin is going anywhere or doing anything. Dates are absolutely forbidden. At least until you fix what you just messed up."

Instantly Terri yelled at me, "What the Hades do you think you're doing? I'm a counselor too!"

"And you never punish anyone. You gave that part of the job to me, remember?" I asked. "Mike, would you find Amor or Lilliana for me?"

Mike shrugged and nodded. He knew me well enough to guess that I wouldn't enforce the cabin-wide punishment for very long. Otherwise, no way would he have been that helpful. Terri marched into the cabin and I heard the sounds of screams and girls throwing belongings to the floor. I was more than willing to bet that the items being thrown belonged to Sophie.

"Yeah, Tyler?" Amor asked as he appeared in front of me.

"Mind using your arrows to help me punish Sophie?" I asked. I could do it with my love magic, of course, but it was easier to let him do it.

"Cool," He said with a wide grin as he pulled an arrow from his quiver and started to notch it in his bow.

"No! No! No! I'll do whatever you want!" Sophie cried, as I'd known she would.

"You do all the cabin chores. You are forbidden to date anyone until the end of the summer. And you not only apologize to Jake and Laura, but you explain what you did wrong and fix it." I picked up one of Amor's arrows. This time my voice was loud enough to reach the girls in the cabin, who were listening to us. "Any of you ever do anything like this again and you'll be wishing that you were playing Capture the Flag against the Ares cabin. I do not want any more of this nonsense."

Sophie nodded her head reluctantly while Casey came up to me.

"Tyler," She pouted, her dark face scrunching up in unhappiness, "why do you have to lift the ban on dating?"

I laughed, along with the people watching.

"Case," I patted her on the shoulder, "you are a piece of work. Besides Mike is better than me at fighting. I like not being full of puncture holes."

Maya laughed softly as she turned with her siblings to go back to whatever it was that they were doing.

I smiled at my little sister, who smiled back, and I remembered why I like being a son of Aphrodite.

Everyone was staring at me, like they couldn't believe what I had shouted at my sister. I couldn't believe that I had, in front of the whole camp, told her that was why everyone thought we were selfish. I don't mind being looked at, but I couldn't take it anymore. It'd been less than twenty-four hours since I'd last escaped to the forest, but I needed to get away, so into the forest I went.

Somehow I ran into Renee again. I was starting to think- okay, I was more than starting- that I had really bad luck. But when Renee saw me she just smiled slightly.

"You do know that you're the only person in the world who actually talks to me?" She asked, her British accent making the words sound different than they would if I said them.

"That's probably because everyone else is too busy moaning from the bruises you inflict," I said, smiling. This was the third time I had talked to her in the forest and each time conversation came easier. "I would know," I added.

"You're the only one who doesn't squeal and groan when I whack away. Besides Percy and Clarisse, of course. But I don't usually get to fight them."

"Thanks for the honor," I said dryly. "Have you ever lost a fight?"

"Yeah," Renee nodded. "My first day here, Clarisse won the wrestling fight. At the point I was used to being the strongest around weak mortals. Annabeth almost always wins when I fight her."

For several minutes we were silent, me just looking around the forest and Renee fingering her gun and testing the sharpness of her sword. Only she tested it by cutting herself. Really?

But she seemed satisfied as she put a band-aid on the little red slice on her finger.

"If you do that, why aren't you covered in scars?" I asked.

"I don't get scars. Unfortunately," Renee said. I opened my mouth to ask why that was unfortunate but she stopped me. "Tyler, why do you always play matchmaker?" Renee asked, looking like she truly wanted to know. The fact that she called me by my real name (and not "pretty boy") meant that she was probably serious.

"I'm good at it and it makes people happy."

Renee stared at me like I was crazy. "You know what everyone thinks of you, right?"

"Yeah. I'm a sissy, a wimp, girly," I said with a shrug, "I could explain why I like to be a matchmaker in full, I suppose, but no one listens. They just want to avoid me or get revenge." I chuckled slightly, "And so the self-pity fest begins."

Renee was looking sorry for me. Yeah, you read that right. _Renee was looking sorry for me. _

"Would you explain it to me?"

I nodded and tried to think about where to start. "Because of who my mom is, I have certain talents. I'm good with fashions and clothes. I can use love magic," I smiled, "I can flirt really well."

"You have a big ego," Renee added with a smirk, but her face turned serious as she waited for me to continue.

"And I can sense peoples' emotions. I know when a relationship would help them, make them more complete, make them happy. I use my talents, because I can't ignore them. They don't just go away. I help my sisters, I protect my family." Man, when I said it like that it sounded so sappy and heart touching.

"Guess I better remind my brothers not to hurt any of your sisters."

"And I try to make people happier," I added softly, turning away from Renee so she couldn't see my face. I had never told anyone this before. No one had wanted to listen to me. Most of the people I helped believed that I manipulated emotions. I didn't. I just knew how to help.

"So why does everyone avoid you or want revenge then?" Renee asked softly. I had a feeling that she knew what it felt like to be misjudged. After all, the hurt, joking and quiet girl who I talked to in the forest was nothing like the violent bully that everyone else saw.

"Because they believe I caused something fake or that I used magic to change their minds."

"You used magic with Katie and Travis."

"The spell I put on them merely ensured they had the chance to fall in love. Falling in love was their choice."

"Maybe its because, deep down, all the people you help are afraid that whatever you did is fake. That it isn't really true. That you just play with them for fun. It does look like that, the way you act," Renee said and then, probably to make me feel better, "Mike and Maya don't hate or avoid you."

"Mike is my brother and one of my best friends. He has a very, very vague idea of how it works for me. Maya already knew that she loved Mike. She didn't need my help, even though Mike did."

"Maybe its the way you approach the situation. Acting like it's a game isn't exactly going to make them believe that you aren't just playing a game."

I turned to stare at Renee, "You really get people, don't you?"

Renee looked at her feet, ashamed, and said very quietly, "Yeah."

"Why are you ashamed of that? You could have a lot of friends instead of..."

"Instead of being surrounded by my bullying family? Yeah, I know. It's not who I am, though," Renee said, her eyes closing and tears starting to leak out.

"Who your dad is, you mean," I said, understanding a little more.

Renee nodded, "I feel like there are two of me. The me who is a bully and strong and violent and mean. And the nice me who understands people and never shows up."

"Why don't you try to be yourself? Instead of your dad, I mean. Being kind and understanding aren't weaknesses."

"I can't. I try. But when I do something like that, like understanding, people just get as far away from me as possible. And boys," She glanced at me, like wondering whether it would really be wise to tell the next bit to someone who was both a boy and the son of a gossip goddess, "boys want to admire what I look like. They don't care that I'm a bully. No one cares enough to try to understand me."

Renee looked like she'd just poured her soul out to me and was wishing she could take it back.

"I know the feeling," I said, quietly.

"You're not a bully."

"No. But everyone who knows who my mom is thinks they know me. Except Casey, Clara, and Mike. They actually know me."

"Not your dad?" Renee looked like she already knew the answer, but was just double checking.

I snorted. "My dad hasn't come home from work in two years. I own the house Terri and I live in. I would ask the same about your mom, but I already met her."

"Yeah. She thinks that I am my dad."

Renee and I locked gazes and I knew that we had a lot in common. Only my situation was better than Renee's. I had Casey, Clara and Mike. She had no one except me. Maybe. I still wasn't sure about that part.

My deep thoughts were interrupted by Renee's watch. It started beeping really loudly and she pressed a button.

"Time for teaching," Renee said with a smile. "Clarisse has something else to do, so I get to teach wrestling."

"Lucky kids."

"I'm sure the Apollo cabin will survive. They can always heal themselves," Renee said as she stood up and sheathed her sword. I grinned slightly and continued on my way to my house. If I went back to my cabin right then, I would've ended up yelling at Sophie all over again. And I didn't envy the Apollo cabin their teacher. Because, friend or not, Renee's blows hurt.

The rest of that week passed smoothly. I helped Sophie fix the lives she had messed up. I got beat up by Renee just as much as always, despite the fact that we talked in the woods at least once a day. Every time we talked, I learned more about Renee. I discovered that she had several pet falcons, though they weren't exactly tame. They stayed in the Ares cabin and none of her siblings bothered them. I met the falcons and wasn't keen to repeat the experience.

Not only did her falcons follow her every command, they weren't regular falcons. Their talons and beaks were so sharp I was sure that one peck or swipe would kill me. Their eyes watched me, showing an incredible amount of intelligence. They freaked me out. But Renee loved them. Every time they did something incredible- like catch a tiny piece of meat as it flew through the air at ninety miles per hour- her eyes glowed and she smiled. By the end of the week, I couldn't deny it anymore. Renee and I were friends.

The end of the week was apparently the signal for the end of any peace that had briefly been mine. My first hint of this was when Renee bullied me (okay, she didn't really bully, she just demanded) into actually going to sword fighting lessons. Which meant I got my butt whipped by my new friend. Fun.

Renee's broadsword came swinging towards my head. Of course, my ADHD brain wondered how much it would hurt to get my throat cut open. Didn't someone in Ancient Greece get their throat cut open and survive? Actually, that might have been the chicken featured on Animal Planet a couple months ago.

"Rule number one," Renee said to the small group of newbies (four thirteen year old's and two twelve year old's) that she was showing how to fight. None of the newbies had been claimed yet, so they got stuck with Renee in the sword arena, "never let your attention wander."

And my sword was spinning through the air to land, hilt up, quivering in the dirt. Where I couldn't reach it. I was dead.

At least she didn't have Fire-biter in her hand.

You know how some things you think or say just tempt the Fates? Well, what I had just thought was one of those things apparently, because the next second Renee was pointing her gun at me as she flipped the switch on the side.

I jumped backwards, scurrying as far away from the flaming spearhead as possible. The fire on the spearhead was hot enough to melt metal. And I was wearing a full suit of Greek battle armor. Which is made of metal. Can you say ouch?

I guess our friendship meant something to Renee, because she didn't set me on fire. Instead she singed my shirt (that shirt was _expensive_!) and gave me a good kick in the place where no guy should be kicked. Let me say it again, ow. I really, really need to get a life. A different life.

"Dead," Renee said as she leveled her spear inches from my throat. I left the arena as quickly as possible.

"Bloody awesome," Renee said as Clarisse executed a perfect move that dumped her opponent on his butt. I looked over to where Chris and Renee were standing side by side. The newbies were still following Renee around (who gave her the responsibility of showing them the camp? Because if it was Chiron, he really needs to think about his definition of teaching) and she had brought them to the wrestling class. Currently, the Aphrodite cabin was supposed to be taking part in wrestling lessons (taught by Clarisse, which meant that no one in my cabin showed up), but I was the only Aphrodite kid within hundreds of feet. I was only there because I was trying to find one of the Demeter kids. (I wanted to know why poison ivy was growing on my bed.)

"We're on, Chris," Renee said her teeth flashing in a terrifying smile. Renee slapped Chris's hand, really hard, and walked forward. Chris didn't even wince. Going out with Clarisse must have made him pretty durable. More durable than me, at any rate. I was plenty durable against humans, but half-bloods were another matter entirely. There were reasons why I was the only one (besides Mike and Casey) in my cabin who actually attended any of the fighting lessons. Aphrodite causes wars, not fights them.

"Please tell me you didn't just make a bet with Renee," I said to Chris as he intently watched Renee approach Clarisse.

"I really don't want to talk to you or any of your siblings."

I rolled my eyes, "Just because my twin sister is the nosiest girl on earth, doesn't mean I am."

Chris ignored me.

"What did you bet Renee?"

"What's it to you?" he asked in a way that reminded me of Clarisse. They make a nice couple and all, but I really wish that she wouldn't rub off on him. One Clarisse is way more than enough.

"Because if my welfare is in anyway involved in your bet..." I trailed off, thinking about which punishment would be best.

"I'm not crazy," Chris objected, "Anymore. So, believe it or not, I like to leave your cabin alone. I've had way more encounters with your family than is healthy."

"Good," I said as I yawned widely. "I just finished recovering from my last fighting lesson."

Chris ignored me. But I saw the newbies looking at me curiously.

I grinned lazily at them, "Hey."

"Hi!" A twelve year old girl said with a wide grin.

"So you don't use her," I nodded my head towards Renee, "nickname for me, my name's Tyler, son of Aphrodite."

The kids said hello, but the twelve year old wanted to know more. She kept up a volley of rapid fire questions.

"I promise I'll answer your questions in a bit. I want to see my tormenter get beat up," I said.

I stood next to Chris for a couple minutes longer, watching as Renee got herself into big trouble.

"My turn," She proclaimed in her British accent, her smile wide as she pushed up her sleeves.

"You wanna wrestle with me, punk?" Clarisse asked in disbelief.

"I wrestle with our brothers all the time. I'm ready to take on you," Renee stretched a little bit.

"Give it your best," Clarisse snarled and lunged forward. Renee skipped to the side and used Clarisse's momentum to throw her to the ground. Clarisse twisted around and pinned Renee to the ground.

"One, two, three," Clarisse started to count.

But Renee just smiled and wriggled like a snake. Renee was much smaller, the size of a normal girl instead of a giant like Clarisse, and she used that to her advantage as she made it nearly impossible for Clarisse to hold on to her. While Clarisse was occupied with keeping Renee on the ground, Renee managed to get her leg into the perfect position to knock all the air out of Clarisse's lungs. I winced because, trust me, I know how that feels.

"Ow," I muttered as Renee sent her sister flying. About half an hour later, Renee had won. Barely. And I had answered two million of the twelve year old's questions.

Renee marched over to Chris and held out her hand.

"Damn," Chris muttered.

"What happened to the three thousand dollars and two hundred golden drachmas?" Renee asked.

"You bet _Renee_, the girl who has never lost a fight, three thousand dollars and two hundred drachmas that she would lose?" I asked incredulously.

"Beat it before I mess with your face, pretty boy." Renee said. But I could tell she didn't mean it. All the same, she wouldn't hesitate to fight me. Friends or not, Renee still enjoyed beating me while insisting that she was "helping me to survive in the real world". Yeah, right.

Chris winced and said, "Give me time to steal, I mean find, the money that I owe you."

Where in Hades was he going to get two hundred golden drachmas?

"Rodriguez!" Clarisse shouted. Apparently she had overheard the part about Chris betting on her.

"Not my day," Chris muttered as he turned to Clarisse with his eyebrows raised. Wow. He was either stupid or really brave.

I waved good-bye to the twelve year old girl and beat it out of there before Renee decided that I looked too clean.

After twenty minutes of searching, I found Katie Gardner. Perfect. (Please note the sarcasm.) Not only was she the counselor, but she kind of hated me and I had a funny feeling that she was the one who had grown the poison ivy on my bed.

"Katie?" I asked.

"What do you want, Tyler?" Katie snapped. Jeesh.

"Two things."

"I do have some stuff I would like to get done today," Katie told me, her fists propped on her hips as she turned to me.

"I want to apologize for interfering in your life. I would also like to know if there is anyway that you could remove the poison ivy from my bed. Sleeping is something I quite enjoy," I said, making Katie drop the plant that she had been holding.

"You... w-what... apologized?" Katie stuttered, staring at me like I was from outer space.

"Do I need to go get Travis and tell him that you need help?"

Katie shook her head, "Why are you apologizing?"

"Because I'm sorry," I said.

Katie contemplated me.

"And because it's easier to sleep when there isn't poison ivy on my bed."

Katie laughed, "Apology not accepted. But your bed is ready for your beauty sleep."

"I do not need beauty sleep," I protested as Katie walked away.

"And here we have the strawberry fields and the garden shack. Supreme reign of Demeter and Dionysus children," Renee said, giving the tour for the six new kids. They all looked terrified. One of them shoved another and Renee grabbed them both by their hair, "Quit it," she told them in her threatening voice, "It's time for dinner."

I went to gather my cabin and brought them to the pavilion, where I saw Renee whacking one of the kids on the back of the head.

"Just sacrifice to the gods, idiot!" Renee said to the thirteen year old boy who wanted to know why he had to put some of his food in the fire.

I grinned as my family and I took a seat. Even though I knew the quiet and kind girl that Renee really was, Renee looked like she wanted to kill the young demigods.

Before she could do anything, the grinning and questioning twelve year old was claimed. She became beautiful, wearing a halter dress with rainbow gauzy material billowing around her figure. Over her head gleamed a holograph of a dove as the air around her turned pink. She had received the blessing of Aphrodite.

I remembered my own blessing. That had been beyond embarrassing. I'd had only a vague idea of what was going on as the air around me had turned pink (the same thing happens every time I get really angry) and my dirty and slightly ripped jeans had turned into the coolest outfit in the world. My hair had glowed like it'd just been washed and my skin had healed and become completely clean. Everyone had stared at me and Terri, eyes wide. It didn't help that, at that point, my Aphrodite heritage suddenly kicked in. Thinking back on it, I'm always grateful that I didn't end up in formal wear. Or a dress.

But this girl didn't look embarrassed. Actually, she looked delighted as she twirled in her dress and basked in the glow of the attention of all the people in the pavilion. I stood back up.

"Welcome to the family and the camp," I said, as I walked over to her. "Did your tour guide," Renee glared at me, "tell you what this means?"

"My mom claimed me!" The girl cried as she smiled so wide I wondered if her face was going to crack.

I could swear I heard Renee mutter, "Of course, _I_ get to take care of the mental midgets."

"Exactly. The dove is Aphrodite's sign- our mom's sign."

"The goddess of love!" she squealed.

"Yeah. What's your name?"

"Zia!" Zia said as she started to bounce up and down, "You have to tell me everything, Tyler! I want to know everything!"

Renee rolled her eyes and shoved the unclaimed kids towards the Hermes table. Then she took a seat at her table as I brought Zia over to the Aphrodite table. Getting Zia to sit down, much less eat, was another thing entirely. Zia just kept talking and asking questions and bouncing up and down. By the time dinner was done, she knew everyone's name and random facts about them.

When dinner was done, I walked with her back to the cabin, pointing out everything that I knew Renee would've left out of her tour.

I pointed out all the cabins and the godly parent-slash-patron of each cabin, "... that's the Nike cabin-"

"Like the shoe?" Zia asked. I clapped my hand over her mouth, praying that Nike hadn't heard her.

"No! Nike is the goddess of victory. Don't say rude stuff about the gods. And most definitely do not repeat what you just said unless you never want to win anything again in your life," I pointed at the Tyche cabin, it looked like a casino, "Never gamble with the children of Tyche- goddess of luck."

But Zia was already looking at another cabin. "Barbed wire? Rock music? That paint looks like blood!"

"The Ares cabin, Ares is-"

"The god of war and Renee's dad." Zia said and she looked at the next cabin, "Grass growing out of the roof?"

"Demeter-"

"Like Demetri?" Zia squealed and I knew that she'd read the Twilight saga.

"Demetri is a vampire. And a fictional character. Demeter is the goddess of agriculture," I said, wondering how soon Zia was going to get tired of this game.

I continued to point out the cabins, but Zia stopped me.

"That cabin is glowing like the sun!"

"Apollo's cabin. God of the sun, archery, music, poetry, prophecy, and medicine."

"That cabin is pretty! The rainbow colors flow together just right, positioned so they don't clash." Zia squealed.

"Iris-"

"My dad has a garden full of irises! They're beautiful."

"Iris is the goddess of the rainbow," I managed to say before she moved on.

"Whose cabin is that?" Zia said, pointing at the Hermes cabin with a wrinkled up nose. Why did my newest sister have to have a gift for potentially offending the gods? If any of them were listening to her talk...

"Hermes, god of merchants, thieves-"

"Thieves!" Zia shrieked.

"-travelers and pranksters." Technically, pranksters are not part of Hermes official duties (or whatever you want to call them), but his kids deserve the title of pranksters without a doubt.

"And our cabin is right there," I pointed, "You can make yourself at home and we probably have a closet and vanity table that can be yours. Did you bring anything with you?"

Zia nodded her head looking at me like, _duh! _

"Go on ahead. I need to talk to Terri for a minute."

Terri was standing nearby with a friend, chatting about something or other. I asked her if she had any plans for tonight and she said that she needed to paint her nails. So much for her helping Zia settle in. Because when Terri says she needs to paint her nails, she doesn't just paint them. She goes through a four hour ritual which she swears makes them look better. And if you interrupt her in the middle of it, you can pretty much forget clothes that fit.

"Tyler! I thought you said the cabin was pink!" Zia cried out from the door to the cabin.

"It is," I said as I loped over to her.

"No, it isn't." Zia looked horrified as she opened the door to reveal my... black cabin?

**A/N: Review! Two guesses as to who turned their cabin black...**


	6. Chapter 6

**Son of the Love Goddess Chapter 6**

**Disclaimer: If you haven't noticed already, I am not Rick Riordan.**

**A/N: Thanks to Kittycat32 for beta-ing this chapter!**

_"True love never dies. It only gets stronger with time."- Anonymous_

"Tyler! I thought you said the cabin was pink!" Zia cried out from the door to the cabin.

"It is." I said as I loped over to her.

"No, it isn't." Zia looked horrified as she opened the door to reveal my... black cabin?

I was going to kill Travis Stoll! Except, no way could he have done this all by himself. The floor, walls, ceiling, and bed posts were all spray painted black. Maybe Connor Stoll was back from his quest. My vision turned pink (you know how most people see red when they're mad? Well, I see pink. Oh, shut up!) and I glared around the room. Unbelievable.

"OH MY GODS!" Terri screamed so loudly and so high that I'm sure everyone in New York, heck everyone in the United States, heard her.

"It's black!" Melanie said, and burst into tears.

"Oh great." Casey muttered as she crossed her arms and entered the cabin. Her dark skin blended perfectly with the black walls.

"My posters!" Sophie yelled. The prankster had spray painted over all of the posters that my sisters had on the walls.

"My new blanket!" Courtney yelled. Her blanket- which was pink silk and very expensive- had a light covering of black spray paint.

"Does this happen very often?" Zia asked as she looked around. She still had her Aphrodite-blessing going on, so she still looked stunning.

"Pranks? Yes. Our cabin being spray painted black? Never. Those kids are going to pay." I told her. "You can stay here or you can watch me do my job."

Zia followed me out and I grabbed Casey and Mike, walking towards the Hermes cabin. I needed back-up.

"Permenant make-up?" I asked Casey.

"Check."

"Arsenal of curses?"

"Check."

All the kids that were hanging around in field in the middle of the cabins watched as hysterical screams emanated from the cabin behind us. I walked up to the door of the Hermes cabin and opened it. The kids in the cabin looked up, eyebrows raised. A few things about the Hermes cabin: some of the kids in there are pretty good people, jacks of all trades, and others are pranksters or theives. Travis and Connor Stoll were of the the second variety.

I scowled at the cabin full of kids- some of them were older than me, but whatever- and Casey opened her large purse with an angelic smile. Zia was watching with wide eyes.

Travis (I knew it was him and not his brother, because of his feelings for Katie) was lounging on his bed. He looked up at us and gulped, his eyes darting to another bed. I looked where he was looking and saw his brother, Connor. So Connor was back. His quest must have gone well enough, because he didn't look maimed or disfigured or anything.

"Would anyone like to explain why we now have a black cabin?" I asked.

"Not really." Travis said with a slight smile that was too cocky.

"Great." I said and, because I didn't want to mess up the relationship that both my mom and I had worked on, I moved on to the next form of punishment. It was quite fun, actually. For about twenty-four hours, Connor was in love with a squirrel. (I got that idea from a Midsummer Night's Dream. And don't start asking me why I read it. I had to for school, okay?) Travis had a continual pile of dove poop on his face. And they had to put the cabin back to rights. It took a while to convince them, but they agreed eventually. Perfume over-dosage and various other painful, beautifying things helped. (If you've never had your arms waxed, let me just tell you that it really, really hurts. I honestly don't know how my sisters can willingly do it. And if you want to know how I know that, let me just tell you that Casey is quite good at getting revenge.)

By lights out, the cabin was back to its normal, pink state. Zia was squealing and giggling as she gossiped endlessly with my other sisters. Casey was perfecting her hair-braiding technique. Mike was fast-asleep (I swear he sleeps just as deeply as any child of Hypnos) and I was doing what I did every night- inspecting the cabin and listening to my sisters gossip (its amazing the things you can find out).

The next morning I had camp-wide cabin inspection to do. Fun. I always ended with my cabin because I seriously did not want to have to punish myself, and my sisters can be a bit touchy in the morning. Especially when they haven't gone through their make-up application routines. So I made the rounds. I started with the Poseidon cabin. (I skip over the cabins without occupants.) As soon as I walked in, I had to resist the urge to plug my nose. Because, though he saved the world, Percy really needs to learn how to clean. Percy had obviously made a last minute attempt to make the cabin look like it had been cleaned any time in the last century because stuff was shoved under beds and into corners. Now, I'm not as picky as Silena was (she deducted points just because it wasn't "pretty"), but still. The Poseidon cabin had just flunked out of the inspection. Then the Apollo cabin. No problem there, except for the fact that I really need to remember to wear sunglasses next time so I don't go blind. (The Apollo cabin is bright. Very bright.) The inspection was going quite well until I got to the Ares cabin. They had put on a fresh layer of blood red paint and replaced their barb wire fences with fresh barb wire. Sharp barb wire. Sharp enough so that you should never touch it. I proved that when I started bleeding. But none of that was a problem. No, the problem was inside the cabin. Every camper who was a child of Ares was in there, arguing, fighting, wrestling, and listening to loud rock music.

I stood in the door frame, wondering how in the world I was going to inspect the cabin when its occupants were making it impossible for me to even get in. What I wanted to do was turn off the power in the cabin, thereby stopping the music, but I wanted to stay out of the Underworld more. I can just imagine the kind of punishments they give out in the Fields of Punishment. Like giving fashion advice to desperate teenagers. Oh, wait. That's what I do now.

"Umm, excuse me?" I asked, sarcastically. No one could possibly have heard me, which was the only reason I said it. Maybe I could just give the cabin a zero and move on. Just as I had decided how good an idea that was, Renee and a few of her sisters spotted me. Renee was practicing throwing a javelin, so when she turned to see why her sisters were sniggering and sneering at the door, her javelin turned with her until it was pointed at my face. She wasn't that far away from me (probably about ten feet) and I wasn't exactly eager to be shish-kabobbed.

"CLARISSE!" Renee bellowed, her voice even louder than the music. I winced and covered my ears.

Clarisse approached me, glaring, her arms crossed. Someone turned off the music and the noise in the room died down enough so that I could actually hear Clarisse talk.

"Yeah, Tyler?" She sneered, turning my name into an insult.

"How'd everything go last night, Clarisse?" I asked, and then nearly clapped my hand over my mouth. Crap. Crap, crap, crap, _crap. _Why did I have to choose then to loose control of my mouth? I was dead. Crap. Curses on son-of-Aphrodite knowledge.

Clarisse's fist slammed into me and her electric spear- I cannot count on two hands the number of times that thing has come in contact with my skin- slammed into me.

The electricity was so powerful, that I have no idea what happened next. I blacked out. But when I woke back up, I was still in the Ares cabin, and Clarisse looked like she had calmed down slightly. I pushed myself to my feet and did a quick inspection, ignoring the jeering and sneering idiots who were Renee's siblings. Renee herself was nowhere to be seen. Then I left, giving Clarisse a glare on my way out. Once I was out of there, I put my hands on my knees and closed my eyes for half a second. I needed to collapse somewhere. But I had my inspection of all the cabins to finish and my cabin was the worst place I could go right then. Because Mike and Casey would want to know what had happened to me. And then I'd have to explain.

That had been the worst possible moment for my mouth to just run of its own accord. I had most certainly not been planning to let Clarisse know the extent of my abilities. Especially when it concerned where she had been the night before.

I forced myself to stand back up and walk into the forest. Which was not the smartest thing in the world. There I was, in a weakened state, weaponless, in a mysterious, monster-filled forest. By choice. The numerous shocks that I have suffered from Lamer (Clarisse calls her electric spear Maimer and the rest of us call it Lamer) must have messed with my brain. I leaned up against my favorite tree (it's my favorite because no dryad currently lives in it) and closed my eyes. Which is why I heard, instead of saw, the hell-hound.

A deep and loud growl made the tree behind me vibrate. I opened one eye and quickly closed it again. A hell-hound the size of a tractor trailer was growling at me, looking ready for its next meal. I had no weapons, no strength, no energy, no powers to use against it, nothing. Just nothing.

The hound leaped for me, but I didn't do the sensible thing. I didn't run or scream. Heck, I didn't even move. I just glared at the thing. By the way, if you are reading this, which I sincerely hope you aren't because this whole narrative is seriously embarrassing, don't ever follow my example. Run away from the monster as fast as possible.

The hell-hound was just about to make me into Tyler Tasties when it disintegrated, covering me in monster dust. When the dust cleared I saw Renee, her red hair pushed into a ponytail and her eyebrows raised.

"Are you mental?" She asked.

I closed my eyes again. I didn't shake my head or protest, because I was wondering the same thing. Provoking Clarisse was definitely crazy, walking unarmed into a monster-infested forest was even crazier, and letting the monster almost eat you was craziest of the three.

"What happened while I was blacked out?"

Renee shrugged, "Clarisse calmed down once you were unconscious."

Yeah, right. So Clarisse just miraculously calmed down? No way. There was parts of the story that Renee wasn't telling me. Big parts.

Thankfully, I seemed to have learned my lesson and my mouth didn't open up and get me into deeper trouble.

"I think that next time I see Clarisse and Chris sneaking off to meet each other, I'll keep my mouth shut." I said as I held my head in my hands and tried not to puke all over the ground.

"If you intend on living long enough to stop your sisters from turning the world pink, then that would be a good idea."

"Don't remind me." I moaned, not wanting to think about the whole turning the world pink thing. It was totally possible, knowing _my _sisters.

"Are you okay?" Renee asked quietly and I heard the sounds that meant she was sitting down next to me, "That looked like it hurt."

"I've been beat up worse before. Monsters like to go after the ones who can't fight. Fast food." I joked, but I've actually had a monster call me fast food before. If it hadn't been for the other demigods that I'd gotten seperated from finding me just then, I would have become monster lunch, Tyler style. The upsides of being related to the gods.

"Don't you have cabin inspection?" Renee asked quietly. I opened my eyes to look at her. Her eyes were closed and she looked pretty. Her red hair was pushed back into a ponytail like always, her tan skin glowed slightly in the light that filtered through the trees, and she wasn't wearing any menacing grin or pointing any weapon at me. I'd never really thought about the fact that Renee was pretty. I usually thought about how best not to get skewered around her or, more recently, who Renee was (because it became more and more obvious with every day that Renee was complicated and that the word "bully" wasn't an accurate description. Though it was accurate for the rest of her cabin).

I was snapped out of my revery by the sounds of footsteps coming closer.

"Do we even know what Tyler said that got him into trouble?" Clara asked someone.

"No. My brother," Casey said the word brother with emphasis, "has a talent for annoying the Ares kids."

"Hey, I'm your brother, too." Mike's voice said.

Renee glanced at me, gave a slight wave good bye and walked into the woods, disappearing among the foliage. I wished that she didn't have to leave, but Renee had made it clear that she wasn't ready to show everyone in camp that there was more to her than a bloodthirsty daughter of Ares.

"Guys!" I called out.

"Guy and girls." Casey corrected as she walked into the clearing. "You look horrible."

What is it with my family finding me after I get beat up by an Ares kid and telling me that I look horrible? The hilarity of that situation is long gone.

"What stupid thing did you do?" Clara asked me.

Sheesh. Can't my only friend (who isn't related to me) give me a little credit? Or at least trust me, at all?

"I only-"

"Only?" Casey interrupted, "You look worse than a zombie. And your hair is standing on end like you got electricuted."

"Thank you so-" I started to say, but I was interrupted, again.

"You got Clarisse angry didn't you? And she shocked you with Lamer." Mike guessed.

"Would you please-" I said, only to be cut off. For the third time in a row. AAAAHHHHH!

"You are so moronic sometimes." Casey said.

"Let me talk!" I half-shouted.

No one interrupted me. Thank the gods.

"I might have mentioned something to Clarisse in front of her siblings. And she might have gotten really angry and attacked me. Then I might have fainted and stumbled here." I said.

No one said anything.

All three were silent. Casey didn't make a sisterly comment, Mike didn't tell me that I needed to toughen up, and Clara didn't lament about how stupid I was.

"You didn't." Clara said in a voice that emenated exasperation.

"Um, yeah. I actually did."

"Tyler, what you said to her, did it have anything to do with last night?" Casey- the emotion whiz- asked.

"Maybe." I hedged, trying not to let on just how bad it really was.

"Wait a minute." Mike said. "I'm missing something here. What happened last night?"

Clara nodded. Casey crossed her arms, "Why did you say that? Why, Tyler?"

"It slipped out by mistake." I said as I reached my hand out to fix one of the braids that framed her face.

Casey raised one of her perfect eyebrows as Clara said, "Okay, game's up. What are you two talking about?"

"Tyler mentioned something that Clarisse and Chris had planned." Casey informed Clara.

"So much for him being good with relationships." Mike muttered as he helped me to my feet.

"I am actually here, you know." I said.

"Tyler, when are you ever going to learn to self-control?" Clara asked as she assisted Mike.

"When he's in the Underworld."

"I would appreciate it if you could help me to my house without the comments." I said.

"We're going back to the cabin." Casey said in her end-of-discussion tone. Doesn't she know that not only am I four years older than her, but I am also her counselor?

The cabin was suspiciously vacant when my entourage (minus Clara who said that she'd had enough of "Barbie wonderland" to last her for the next millenia) and I entered it. I sat on my bed for a minute before opening my dresser drawer to find some clothes that weren't singed.

Unfortunately, instead of finding a drawer full of my clothes, I found a drawer full of Terri's clothes. Again. Terri seemed to think that, because we were twins, if she ever needed somewhere to put any of her stuff, my space was fair game. Which is why, from time to time, I open a drawer or closet that is supposed to have my stuff (and only my stuff) in it and find skirts, jeans, ridiculously expensive t-shirts, accessories and pretty much anything else that she can't find a suitable place for.

Not only do I have to live in an entirely pink cabin with a horde of sisters that I am supposed to control, but my space isn't always mine.

Back when Silena was head counselor for the Aphrodite cabin, it happened a lot more, my stuff being shoved aside or thrown out to make room for my sisters' junk. Silena and I got into more than one argument when I tried to get her to tell everyone that it couldn't happen anymore. And it never happened to Mike, just to me.

I have all the luck.

On top of every other bad thing that had already happened to me today and could still happen to me (it wasn't even noon yet, so the possibilities were endless) finding my clothes replaced by my sister's used up the last molecules of my patience.

"That's it. I'm leaving." I said as I grabbed my cell phone and shoved it into my pocket.

"Leaving?" Mike asked me, "It's not that bad around here."

Casey said, "Who's going to be the counselor for the Aphrodite and Eros cabins?"

"Let Terri fix the problems." I hissed, glowering around the cabin. I was sick, so sick, of my life. A normal day for me encompassed so many things that I couldn't deal with anymore. I marched out of the cabin and into the forest, walking only by pure determination.

Half-way through the woods, my luck ran out.

You know what tree nymphs are, right? Well, the ones that live in the forest at Camp Half-Blood are pretty cute. Or that's what I used to think.

I wasn't thinking that when a pine nymph came out of her tree to wrap me up in a net. Apparently, I'd stepped on one of her roots and it had ticked her off.

She tied me up and then wrapped me up in the net before shoving me to the ground.

"Touchy," I muttered to myself.

"I am not!" She yelled at me, turning bright green, and proving my point.

When she had first come out of her tree after me, I had thought that maybe she was just another nymph who was in love with me (long and very embarrassing story that I'm not going to tell), but I was most definitely not of that opinion as she kicked me.

Weren't nymphs supposed to be peace-loving spirits?

"Nice going, pretty boy," a voice said and I would've jumped up and down in joy if I'd been able to move.

That was weird. Why was I so excited to just hear Renee's voice? It wasn't that big a deal...

"Renee," I groaned, wondering why I always ran into Renee in the forest.

"Have you ever tried staying out of trouble for more than two minutes?" Renee asked as she looked down at me.

I opened my mouth to reply and the nymph kicked me, scowling at me.

"Beat it, nymph," Renee said to the glaring pine spirit.

"Shoo," the nymph said as she melted back into her tree.

Renee hauled me to my feet and cut my bindings off.

My knees buckled and I almost fell to the ground, but Renee caught me with a roll of her eyes.

"I should be used to this by now," I grumbled to myself.

"This has happened to you before?" Renee asked me in disbelief.

"Yeah," I said as propped myself against a tree. (I made sure that it didn't belong to the pine that tried to kidnap me.)

"Everything that happened today or just being kidnapped by a nymph?"

"Being kidnapped by a nymph," I said as I tried to stand up and walk to my house, "except the last one was lovesick not furious."

Renee snickered.

My legs wouldn't function properly and I keeled over. Fantastic.

"Maybe you should go back to your cabin and rest for a few minutes, instead of doing something else stupid," Renee said with a smile that my heart skip three beats.

"I'm not going back to that pink torture chamber," I said, crossing my arms.

"What happened?" Renee asked, sympathetic.

It didn't surprise me anymore, when she was sympathetic or kind.

"All my stuff disappeared, replaced by Terri's crap," I said as I stumbled onto the lawn of my house.

Renee watched me for a few minutes, shaking her head in disbelief, then said, "I'm going to go train some little tykes. Good luck."

"I would feel sorry for the little tykes," I mumbled, "if you hadn't said good luck."

When Renee said good luck, it meant something bad was about to happen. Like, I don't know, Clarisse killing me because of my big mouth.

I was most definitely staying at my house until it was dinner time. Clarisse couldn't kill me while Chiron was watching.

**A/N: Review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Son of the Love Goddess Chapter 7**

**Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan. Or any other author. So get over it. **

**A/N: This is a little shorter than usual, but I am short on time. Thanks to the almighty goddess of revision and beta-ing (not really, but close enough) Kittycat32! And thanks to anyone who is reading this. Please read the quote- it is kinda important to this chapter. **

"_**Thus with a kiss I die." -William Shakespeare**_

I discovered several very important things that day. And I discovered all of them in the same thirty minutes.

At the beginning of the thirty minutes I was sitting with Renee in the tiny clearing. She was exercising; venting her feelings, really. And I was helping her (a little bit of advice: that is a seriously big mistake unless you _want_ to be minced meat). Or I had been helping before she had knocked me onto my backside so hard I couldn't get up again.

"Ow, Renee," I croaked.

Number one important lesson, never volunteer to fight with a daughter of Ares unless you are prepared to be seriously injured.

Not that it was a problem with anyone other than Renee since all the other children of Ares, especially Clarisse, were ignoring me. It was really too bad because, before the incident a few days previously, I had been getting on pretty well with Clarisse.

In other words, I hadn't gotten a shock from her in a long while. I guess that the memory of Silena had protected me. Obviously, that had no longer mattered when I'd opened my big mouth and dug my own grave with my idiotic words.

"Sorry," Renee said, looking really sorry as she interrupted me from my reverie of pain, "My only friend, and I half kill him. The perks of being a daughter of the war god."

I winced when I heard the word friend. It just didn't feel right. Okay, okay. I didn't want to be friends with Renee. I wanted more than that. Which was ridiculous.

Renee watched me for a moment and I watched her watching me, my eyes closed enough so that it appeared that I couldn't see anything except my eyelids. Her face was suddenly tender and slightly sad. But the look vanished so quickly I couldn't be sure I hadn't just imagined it. Except I'd never really had much of an imagination.

I hauled myself to my feet, wincing as my legs complained at the pretty much constant abuse. "'S'okay. I'm used to this by now. After all, everyone in camp has it in for me."

Renee laughed and the laugh made her face less ferocious and threatening. And, just like that, my mind was completely blank. You know how rare that is when you have a (mild) case of ADHD? Really rare. I didn't know what to do or say.

Any other girl, and I am the best flirt-slash-advice-giver in the world. Not with Renee.

Number two important lesson, as good as I am with other people's relationships, I suck at being in love. _Liking someone. _I suck at liking someone. I am not in love with Renee.

"I don't have it in for you, despite popular belief," Renee laughed, her head tilting back, the sunlight filtering through the trees gilding her blood red hair and tan skin.

Number three important lesson, I am in love with Renee.

Renee sat down next to where I had collapsed in exhaustion. However many million times I had fought with Renee, it wasn't enough to change the fact that I was wiped by the end, every time.

Since my mind was taking a vacation to Africa or somewhere equally far away, my body kind of went on auto-pilot. Which was both good and bad.

I felt like I was watching an interesting movie instead of actually living it.

My fingers reached out and touched a lock of Renee's red hair that had escaped the ponytail though I hadn't ever decided to do so. Didn't it take some sort of conscious thought to make your fingers move?

My other hand went to the back of Renee's neck and brought her face closer to mine. I leaned towards her, my neck moving stiffly because the back of it had hit a rock when I had had my feet swept out from underneath me.

I leaned forward, and with the ease of experience, touched my lips to Renee's. That was about when the confidence and knowledge from prior experience disappeared.

I had kissed a lot of girls and kissing was something that had always come naturally to me. (Stop laughing- it's true!) A benefit of being a son of Aphrodite.

But _this_, this was different. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, just a vague remembrance of what I had done in the past that seemed to have no bearing on what I was doing now. My lips moved against Renee's in a way that was a gigantic difference from any other kiss in the world.

My mind returned in the middle of the kiss and my stomach flipped up and down, apparently trying to find a way out of my body. My mind raced, wondering what on Olympus I thought I was doing. I didn't even know if she liked me! My Aphrodite heritage was screaming to me that I'd just made Renee's entire body melt (not literally).

The part of me that instinctively knew what people were feeling (love and crush wise, anyway) might as well have been flashing neon signs that said _Renee likes you! Renee really, really likes you! _ My ADHD had returned with a vengeance and I was mulling all this over while ninety percent of my brain was still concentrating on my lips moving with Renee's.

_Renee likes you!_

But then Renee's fist made me doubt myself. She punched me in the cheek causing pain to blossom all over my face, searing and agonizing. Then she whacked me so hard on the head that I felt dizzy. My vision turned blurry and I thought that she had damaged my sight, until the stupid tears of pain dripped onto my cheeks. I could see just well enough to see her stalk away, looking furious. That message couldn't have been clearer. What I'd thought that my Aphrodite heritage was telling me had just been the product of wishful thinking.

I sank to the forest floor, the mental and physical injuries too much. I ignored the pain as I laid my head down on the leaf-covered ground.

Number four important lesson, never fall in love with a daughter of Ares.

Number five important lesson. Irony is cruel. And by that I mean the irony of me, a son of Aphrodite, falling in love and getting, well, rejected.

I stayed in the forest awhile. My brain wandered and I remembered something. I remembered that conversation I'd had with my mom. You know, the one where she told me that I'd find true love and that it'd be romantic and sappy and all that junk? Well, yeah, I was thinking that over. More specifically, I was dwelling on what my thoughts had been at the time. I had been unhappy about it because I know my mom's a big believer in "the course of true love never did run smooth" and helping out with that. I could just kill Shakespeare.

I thought about other stuff as well. Like what the Hades I was going to tell everyone at camp. No way would they overlook the bruise on my face. Even though I couldn't see my face, I knew that my black and dark purple (the kind of ominous purple that thunderclouds turn right before the tempest) skin was going to turn heads.

My thoughts also turned in a much more morbid direction. I began to wonder what would happen if a poisonous scorpion (I happen to know that there are a few of those living in the forest) came along and killed me. With my luck, it would be going about its business and my presence would piss it off. And then I thought about death.

What was the Underworld like? I would definitely be able to get in because I had a couple golden drachmas in my pocket so I could pay the entrance fee. Where would I go? Elysium was much too grand for me. I, after all, had never done anything with my life. I hadn't even gone on a quest like most of the other campers at Camp Half-Blood. Children of Aphrodite don't get chosen to go on quests to save the world.

The only child of Aphrodite who had ever done something like that had been Silena. Silena Beauregard. My sister who had been my best friend and a secret traitor to the camp. She had lost her life trying to undo what she had helped to cause. She was in Elysium, no doubt about that. My mother had also given her this... I didn't dare think the word I wanted to use in case my mom was listening in to my thoughts.

Silena had loved her boyfriend, Charles Beckendorf, son of Hephaestus. Silena had been devastated when Beckendorf- a good enough guy who I became friends with after I evaluated whether or not he was good enough for my sister- had died. I remembered that day clearly. Percy had returned from the mission, but Beckendorf hadn't. Clarisse and I had spent the next few weeks constantly near her, trying to help. Was the pain that had been so clearly written on her face worth it?

More to the point, was the pain I was feeling worth it? For Silena, the pain of his death might have been worth the joy she had gotten when he was alive and the joy she now had, in Elysium with Beckendorf. For me... I didn't want to think about me or Renee. It wasn't like this didn't happen all the time. To every teenager in the world.

But telling myself that I was just one of millions did not help. Neither did trying to stand up and pace, like I usually do when I don't want to think about things. Standing up would be problem enough without trying to walk.

Finally, once I was sure I could hide my feelings (and walk again) I went back to Camp. By the time I hobbled out of the trees like an old lady, it was dinner time. I arrived at the pavilion late, so everyone had cause to look at me and see my face.

I had caught a glimpse of my reflection of the way to the pavilion. Renee had hit me so hard that, not only was the side of my face that she had hit black, but the other side was tinged a light purple. I looked like a plum.

My good looks had been ruined by the girl I loved. Ouch. It hurt just to think about her. And I couldn't think about her because one of my three friends would pick up on it. I had to hide it as best as I could. I needed to pretend that I had just gotten beat up by a monster and woken up in the middle of the forest. Which, sadly, has actually happened to me before. Don't ask.

"Tyler!" Casey cried out in dismay.

"Ty, your face is horrible!" Courtney said. My family is so polite and complementary.

"I'm fine," I croaked, "Mel, relax or you're going to faint."

Mel nodded and tried to breath a little more deeply.

"What happened to you? Where have you been?" Casey demanded. I could hear the sound of lots of whispers and gossip floating around the pavilion. If you think regular humans gossip a lot, then you should hear the way demigods gossip. My sisters are worst of all. They make gossip magazines look under-informed.

"I was on my way to my house, taking the shortcut through the woods. A monster tried to eat me." I shrugged, silently praying to my mom (who got me into this stinking mess in the first place) that no one would ask what kind of monster.

I hadn't worked out the details. "I sent him to Tartarus, but I got hit in the head first. I guess I was unconscious for awhile." I said it loudly enough so that, even with the hushed whispers, everyone could hear me.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see the Ares kids sniggering.

Idiots.


	8. Chapter 8

**Sun of the Love Goddess Chapter 8**

**A/N: Let's all say it together: Mythical Words is a horrible person for not updating for so long. Okay, that's over, now you can read this long awaited update. **

**Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan. **

**Dedication: To every reviewer who pestered me about updating. And, **Kas**, you weren't being a pain. You were being helpful. Thanks! **

"_My only love sprung from my only hate." -William Shakespeare_

I growled loudly and flipped over. One of my sisters had opened the windows in our cabin and sunlight was streaming into my face. I hadn't gotten to sleep until very late the previous evening, thanks to the many bruises and sore spots covering my body. I wasn't anywhere near ready to wake up.

Nearby I could hear two of my sisters- it sounded like Sophie and Courtney- were discussing how hot some guy looked without his shirt on. Fantastic. I so wanted to wake up to that conversation.

I would've told them to shut up, but they weren't the only ones talking. Terri was chatting away on her (forbidden) cell phone, Mel and Zia were discussing the pros and cons of different brands of eyeliner, and Mike was playing music.

I opened my eyes to see my Barbie-doll-house cabin, Barbie-doll sisters, and Ken-doll brother. All of whom were making some sort of racket, just to make sure I couldn't get any sleep after being beaten nearly to death.

Okay. So I was in a really foul mood. Your point?

"Would you all shut up?" I hissed, really wishing I had a weapon in my hand. I wouldn't seriously damage them just give them a scar or two- crap, my inner thoughts sounded a lot like Renee.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed!" Mel said in a sing-song voice which grated against my nerves.

"Think fast!" Someone called to me as a tube of something flew towards me.

I didn't get my hands up quick enough and the thing hit my face, opening and covering me in powder. One of my sisters had just thrown a thing of concealer at my face. I had a sneaking suspicion which of them it was, but Casey only smirked at me.

I didn't thank her.

Instead I shoved myself out of bed and stalked out of the cabin. Unfortunately, to get to the bathrooms I had to pass the Ares cabin. The loud jarring of heavy metal made me grit my teeth, which caused my entire face to protest. I needed to get my hands on some ambrosia and nectar. Maybe I could bribe Mike's girlfriend.

I hurried in and out of the dirty building- why can't the camp afford to have better bathrooms? Our Olympian parents are plenty rich.

I knew I was scowling, but I didn't care. The combination of pain and sleep deprivation was creating an epically bad mood.

"Tyler," Someone said in a grave and serious voice.

I turned around with a muttered swear word. "What?" I was just a little exasperated.

"You and the rest of your cabin must attend all of your scheduled activities today." Chiron informed me.

I glared at him. "Why don't you tell that to my sisters?"

Chiron opened his mouth to make some remark about how I was the counselor, but I cut him off.

"Yeah, yeah. I know." I sighed and stalked off towards my cabin, trying to estimate how best to break the news.

"We what?" Terri demanded.

"But-"

"We already have plans!"

"Plus there's no way-"

"Can't we just-"

"SHUT UP!" I bellowed, causing everyone in the cabin to fall silent and turn to stare at me. I'd never yelled at them before. "I have absolutely no control over this. So quit complaining to me and get going. We have archery with the Poseidon cabin first."

Courtney and Sophie whispered to each other, both of them looking angry.

"Guys, at least we'll get to spy on that cute Hephaestus boy during Arts and Crafts." Mel offered, interrupting their whispering.

"And we can totally talk to Percy about Percabeth." Zia said with a grin.

I rolled my eyes and shoved my stuff onto my bed. When it was time, I lead my cabin to the archery range for what was bound to be a danger filled lesson. We were training with Percy, after all.

I was completely right.

I felt sorry for Maya and Will- both of whom were supposed to be teaching us about archery. Most of what ended up happening was us ducking Percy's stray arrows (I think a total of one actually hit the target) and my sisters trying to get juicy bits of gossip out of Percy. Then, when he was unhelpful, out of Maya and Will.

I notched an arrow and pulled the string back. I concentrated for all of two seconds on the target and then loosed the arrow. It hit one of the outer rings, which wasn't great, but still better than Percy, whose arrow I had to dodge a minute later. It was my last arrow of the day, thank Olympus, because my cabin had pegasus riding next.

My sister Selena was a pro at pegasus riding. I am... not. I think I demonstrated this pretty well when I fell off my pegasus.

"Attack!" The child of Demeter yelled, and his pegasus moved forward in an attack formation. My pegasus moved too, trying to evade the attack from it's fellow.

The wind whipped through my hair as the pegasus did a steep dive to avoid the sword that was aimed for me. I'm bad enough at fighting on solid ground, I'm even worse at fighting while riding a pegasus.

"Do something!" I hissed to my pegasus as the sword-bearing guy came so close I could've shoved him off his pegasus. I didn't though, because I needed both hands to keep myself on the flying creature beneath me.

The pegasus jerked his head up, uttering an annoyed whinny. This pegasus did not like me. At all. He positioned himself so I could attack the Demeter kid and then, when I did nothing, whipped his head around to bite my leg.

I growled with pain and then I slipped. Lucky for me, we were over the ocean so I got only minimal amounts of extra bruises.

I did, however inhale a lot of water, and when I walked out at the beach I'm pretty sure I looked like a drowned rat. Normally, I would've fussed with my hair and clothes, but, at the moment, I didn't care.

The day continued in that vein, proceeding to canoe races after the disastrous pegasus fight. Arts and Crafts, and time at the beach were the last things in the day's schedule.

Somehow, at the end of the day I ended up walking past the Ares kids as they congregated near the training arena. As I stalked past I overheard something that made me crazy mad.

"Silena was a traitor. She deserved to die." One of the sons of Ares said, in a contemptuous voice.

I turned on him, furious. Silena had been my best friend and half-sister. Silena had made mistakes, just like the rest of us, but she had died to set them right. An image of her flashed into my mind. She was smiling and beautiful, holding Beckendorf's hand.

I was going to teach this douche of a son of Ares a lesson.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Clarisse advancing on her brother, but I got there first. My blank expression of the minute before was gone, my hands were balled into fists, and the air around me shimmered an angry pink.

Yeah, when I'm really, really mad the air around me turns pink. Luckily, it doesn't happen often.

I lunged for the rude jerk and he backed up unconsciously before stopping himself and preparing for my attack. He had the advantage in strength and fighting, but I was beyond angry and determined he would pay.

My years playing soccer helped as I used my legs to push myself into him, my momentum carrying him to the ground. I don't know what I did in the next few seconds- my brain seemed to be taking increasing amounts of vacations- but the son of Ares ended up underneath me, looking absolutely terrified.

"Never, ever say anything like that about Silena again. If your brain works, you'll remember she died fighting for _us. _And you were here, safely sitting on your butt, until she led you into battle. I don't care who your dad is, if you ever insult my sister again, you'll be dead." I snarled, my hands still curled into fists.

The coward shrank away from me, nodding furiously. By that time, Clarisse stood next to us, Maimer in her hands. She gave her brother a little shock and a bunch of chores. I wasn't satisfied as I stood up and dusted off my clothes.

A big part of me wanted him to insult Silena again, so I could kill him.

All the while Clarisse was punishing him, the idiot stared fearfully at me. I must have looked very scary and angry to make him so scared. The air around me still shimmered pink with my angry aura.

As I left the presence of the children of Ares. I caught a glimpse of myself in the reflection of a shield. I looked strange and other-worldly. My thick blond hair was wet with perspiration, my hazel eyes were burning with unchecked fury, my fists were clenched, and my pink aura made me look like I was wearing a cloud of pink perfume.

I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Renee was ignoring me.

I didn't bother going to dinner or the bonfire- something else was bound to go wrong and I could not handle it anymore. Could not.

I dropped into bed and fell asleep immediately.

I woke up to the feel of a dagger at my throat and someone's hand over my mouth.

"Get up," a voice hissed in my ear.

My stomach sank to my toes, because I knew that voice. Bet you can't guess who it was. Yeah, you're right.

It was Renee.

**A/N: Sorry for the wait! If you review, you get to ask one of the characters a question. I'm pretty sure I can get them to reply. =P **


	9. Chapter 9

**To: Tyler ** "**Have you ever been beaten up by a girl that you like before?"** "**Other than Renee? Well, there was that girl in fifth grade who karate-chopped me when I said she looked hot. And the girl at the program in D.C. sprayed pepper spray in my face. Plus that daughter of Demeter used me as a trellis for her briars. Oh, then the cute girl who kicked me... So, yeah. A few."**

At some point in my life, I pissed the fates off. I can't think when at the moment, but I did. I had to have, because whenever something bad happens, it happens to me.

Yeah, that might be just a bit of an exaggeration, but, come on, I was being dragged out of my bed in the middle of the night by the girl I loved who didn't return my feelings. Did I mention her dagger was pressed to my throat and she had yanked my head back so I was looking at the stars and my neck was doubly vulnerable?

Renee hissed in my ear, so softly my sleeping sisters didn't have a hope of hearing her, "Stand up." Once that was accomplished (with me wondering what she would've done if I wasn't wearing my boxers) she gave me a shove forward. "Start walking."

Zeus, it was incredible how much she sounded like an evil guy from a movie. Even with the exaggerated British accent that meant she was pissed.

Once we were far enough away from all the cabins that there was no danger of anyone seeing us, Renee let go of me, sheathing her dagger... and pulling out her gun and aiming it at my head.

"You are going to take me through the woods to your house." She informed me, like it was a plan we had made weeks ago and I was just pretending I had no idea what she was talking about.

"I am?" I yawned, "I thought I was going back to sleep."

There was a soft click and it took me a minute to realize that she had just turned the safety on the gun off. There was nothing stopping her from shooting me.

A memory popped into my head. _Renee was scowling at me and saying, "A little bullet in the arm wouldn't do any major damage. It would only be painful for a couple of months." _

I gulped. "You know what? I've changed my mind. I think I'm going to go to my house right now."

Renee's glare just intensified.

I turned around (the best way to receive a glare is by having it burn holes in your back, not your handsome face) and headed for the woods. It took me several minutes to locate the path- the trees of Camp Half-Blood are always moving- and then it took a nudge from Renee- a nudge made by the butt of her spear-gun- to get me to walk into the forest.

The woods during daytime are intimidating enough, but at night they are downright scary.

I walked forwards, though. The girl with the arsenal of weapons behind me was scarier than any forest.

I tripped and yawned my way to my house, Renee a constant presence behind me. Whenever I slowed down she prodded me with _Fire-biter_'s spearhead.

"'Kay. We're here. Why-" I turned to Renee and fell silent when I saw her face. "Um... what was it you wanted?"

"Let me into the house."

I was distracted by the fact that she still hadn't used 'pretty boy' or any other derogatory term when addressing me, so it took me a few seconds to register what she had said.

"You dragged me all the way here so I can let you into my house? Haven't you ever heard of borrowing a key?"

Renee's face was suddenly brightly lit with the orange light that only fire can produce. Glancing around I saw that she had set fire to one of the hedges with _Fire-biter. _

Ignoring the pissed off look on her face, I yelped and tried desperately to put the fire out. It took me a few seconds to figure that maybe using the hose would be smart. I raced to the hose, turned it on, aimed, and sprayed.

Fortunately, the fire went out. Unfortunately, in putting the fire out I also soaked Renee clean to the bone and she was giving me a glare. Lesser glares have split rock.

Meekly, I unlocked the back door and stepped aside. Renee shoved past me, bumping my hard stomach (just because I'm a son of Aphrodite doesn't mean I can't be an athlete) with her heavy backpack.

I nearly fell off the step, but managed to keep from falling on my bum.

"What's wrong with you?" I walked into the house behind her, crabbier than I'd ever been before.

"You. The children of Ares. The children of Aphrodite. Camp Half-Blood." Renee said it to the walls as she ascended the stairs and started poking her head into different rooms.

I heard a mutter of disgust and guessed that she'd found Terri's room.

"Bloody Hades," Renee swore loudly enough so I could hear her, even though there were several walls between us. I slumped into one of the kitchen chairs, closing my eyes and dozing off just as a voice said, "Which one of the rooms isn't yours or your sister's bedroom?"

I jerked awake and promptly fell off my chair. "Are you seriously making me give you one of the rooms in my house?" I grumbled, slouching up the stairs to the second floor.

"No. I am merely requesting that you give me one of the rooms in your house." Renee said it sweetly, but there was nothing sweet about the gun she fingered.

I grunted, shoved open one of the extra bedrooms and watched as Renee walked in, completed a thorough investigation and slammed the door in my face.

"Oh, lovely." I muttered.

The next morning I was awoken much too early by the sounds of someone moving around. At first, I was curious what on earth had induced my sisters to wake up before their usual time. Then I realized, painfully slowly, that the sound was coming from downstairs and it was most definitely not the sound of girls putting on make-up and straightening hair. No, this was the sound of someone clanging and banging around with heavy metal objects.

I bolted out of bed and raced downstairs to see what on earth Renee was doing.

I slowed down to a walk as I approached the kitchen. Strolling in, I surveyed my kitchen and Renee, trying to judge whether Renee had calmed down over the night.

"Get out of my way, _pretty boy_."

Nope, she was still pissed.

Renee glanced up with a glare that changed to a smirk.

Why did she look like she had just won some big victory? I glanced down and realized that I was wearing the boxer shorts Terri had given me. They were pink and covered in a print that said "Princess's slave". There goes any dignity I had been attempting to maintain.

I shook my head slightly and walked over to the fridge to look for food. My path was blocked by Renee.

"Get out of here," she hissed at me, her eyes boring into my face.

"It's my kitch-"

Her fist connected to my belly.

"I'm going."

I walked out of the kitchen into the hallway, wincing at the freezing tile beneath my feet. I turned the corner to go up the stairs and nearly jumped out of my pants.

"Aaah!" I yelped. "What are _you _doing _here_?"

"Mom sent me. She thought you might need a little help." The teenage guy in front of me responded with a smile.

I guess I should explain. This unwelcome visitor was- guess who- my brother, Eros. I know that when you think of Eros you think of a little winged cherub wearing a toga and carrying a bow and arrow. In reality, Eros prefers to look like a regular, teenaged, modern guy who is nearly as handsome as me, when I'm not all bruised up that is. Usually, he has strawberry blond hair, lightly freckled skin and wide, innocent blue eyes. Don't let him fool you, I've met him several times before this and he causes twenty times the amount of mayhem his children cause. Which is saying something.

"Believe me, I don't need help falling in love," I grumbled in a whisper, glancing back towards the kitchen. "Now, thanks for visiting and everything, but could you please, _please_ get out before she sees you?"

Eros smirked at me. "You may not need help falling in love, but you definitely need help being in love. It's pathetic. Mom's been watching you on her TV and she was nearly in tears when she summoned me to help."

"Thanks, Eros." I paused to listen to the stomping noise Renee was making, "If you insist on staying, will you at least pretend to be a regular demigod?"

"Hmm..." He considered it for a moment, tilting back his head and sliding his eyelids half-closed.

I clenched my teeth, trying very, very hard not to say something that would result in my death. Well, maybe not death. My mom would probably be mad at Eros if he killed me, since she had plans for me.

"I suppose it would be a little counterproductive to announce my name and purpose..."

"Just a little?"

"Watch that tone, brother. I am much more powerful than you, Princess's slave." Eros' eyes had drifted condescendingly to my boxers. He smirked again and pushed past me on his way to the kitchen.

I slumped against the wall. Why, oh why, did my life have to be so complicated? Oh, yeah, because I'm a demigod son of Aphrodite. It's my fate.

I shoved myself away from the wall and started toward the kitchen. My walk turned into a sprint when I heard a girlish squeal.

When I skidded into the kitchen, it took me several minutes to figure out what the Hades was happening.

Renee had _Fire-biter_'s tip pressed to Eros's throat. Eros, a full-fledged god, looked terrified.

"Could you- um- move that thing away from me- um- please?"

I snorted out a laugh and both of them turned to glare at me.

"Who's the jerk with the girly-squeal?" Renee demanded.

"Eric. He's my half-brother. He doesn't go to Camp Half-Blood, but his mom is Aphrodite." All true except the part about his name. I impress myself sometimes.

"Wonderful," Renee muttered to herself, turning her spear into a gun and stashing it in the holster attached to her jeans.

"Nice to meet you," Eros- sorry, _Eric_ attempted a smile in Renee's direction. She returned it with a freezing glare.

"Another effing son of love. Aren't there enough of those in this place?" Renee muttered mutinously, stomping around gracefully.

Eric turned in my direction and raised his brows at me. He mouthed, _don't need help falling in love? 'Cause she does. _

I flipped him off and grabbed a nearby cup of coffee.

"What the Hades? Looks like frozen... smells horrible..." Renee muttered to herself furiously.

_And I was like, baby, baby, oh, baby, baby. _Justin Bieber emerged from my phone as a picture of Casey appeared on the screen. She would change my ring tone.

"'Sup, Case?"  
_"Where are you?" _

"My house."

"_Why?"_

"Because I need a vacation."  
_"Do you have permission from Chiron?"_

"Casey, what is this? Why are you drilling me?"

"_Because you've been acting weird. Like weirder than normal weird. Besides you didn't answer my question."_

"I'm a little busy right now. Can you please bug me some other time?"

"_How are you busy if you're alone at you're house?"_

I didn't say anything.

"_You're not alone," _It wasn't a question, but a statement.

"What makes you think that?"

"_First, you're not saying anything. Second, you're a son of Aphrodite and you haven't had a girlfriend in at least a month. Conclusion- you're fooling around with a mortal."_

Casey was wrong, but I wasn't going to tell her that. No reason to make her mad or curious.

I said good-bye and hung up.

Renee was staring wide-mouthed at me. She appeared to have forgotten Eros- Eric- was in the room, because she said, "You- you didn't tell her," her voice was soft and quivering, the voice of the Renee I knew and loved.

"Why would I tell my sister you're hanging out here?" I chose every word carefully, but I spoke them in a carefree tone.

"I don't know," Renee's voice was more sigh than anything else. Abruptly, she turned and ran out of the room. A second later I heard her (normally silent) feet thudding up the stairs.

"Well, you may need more help than I thought," Eros smirked at me.

"Back off... please."

Eros watched me for a minute before smirking, "Aren't you going to follow her? Basics of love, brother dear."

I wanted to punch the godling. I barely stopped my fist- thus saving my life.

The reason I was most angry- the guy was right.

"Fine. But you need to at least leave us alone."

I left my honored brother's presence. "Renee?" My voice was quiet, especially because I could hear her hushed sniffles.

"Go away, pretty boy."

Usually the nickname was meant as an insult, but this time... I just couldn't tell whether she meant it in an insulting or complementary way. Usually, it was an insult, but it didn't sound quite like one this time.

I came in and sat down.

"Do you ever listen to me when I say that?" Renee's voice was tired, not venomous like she meant it to be.

"Why are you here instead of at camp?" My voice was gentle, careful.

"Because I can't stand it anymore."

I couldn't help it- my lips twitched up.

"What's so funny?"

"You sound like me when I get fed up... what did they do that was so bad?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

I rolled my eyes, "Anyone ever tell you it's not all about what you want?"

"My brothers were just making fun of me."

I blinked. Renee's brothers were sons of Ares and bullies. They made fun of everyone. It didn't usually bother Renee.

She saw my face. "They were teasing me about you."  
Oh. Holy. Hades. Did they know? Did they know we had been friends? Did they know I loved her? Did they know I kissed her?

"They just thought it was weird that I always pick on you. Then they started comparing it to Clarisse and Chris. Of course, Clarisse wasn't there. They were babbling on and on and I... punched Mark. Then I left." Renee turned around so I couldn't see her face. It wasn't hard to tell she was crying. "Now will you go away? I need to be away from jerks for at least ten minutes."

"I'm not-" I started to say before Renee whirled at me.

"Not a jerk? Which Tyler are we talking about right now? I am absolutely positive it is not the Tyler in front of me, but you never know."

"Renee-"

"Go away or I'll run you through with my spear!" Renee's voice was choked, tears were streaming down her face, and she had never looked more beautiful.

_Renee. I love you. Please, please love me back. _It's what I was thinking, but not what I said. Instead I said, "We're friends, right?"

The only answer I got was Renee curling her hands into fists.

"And friends help each other." Gods, could I sound a little cheesier? "They also listen to each other's problems."

This time the reply was a derisive snort.

"So you gonna tell me what's really bothering you? Cause I know your bully brothers don't get you this upset that easily."

"Don't you get it, Tyler?" Renee spoke through clenched teeth, sobs making her chest heave. "It's you. It's all you."

Huh? This didn't make any sense. At all.

"I- uh- what are you talking about?"

Renee gave me a vicious glare. But she still hadn't even reached for her spear-slash-gun, despite her threat.

Someone snorted behind me. I whirled around. There was Eric-slash-Eros. Apparently he hadn't listened to my leave-us-alone suggestion.

He mouthed, _Isn't it obvious?_ I could tell by the way he was smirking that, had he been speaking aloud his tone would have been condescending.

I glared at him. No, it wasn't obvious. _Go away. _I mouthed at my darling, divine brother.

He took my advice, but it didn't help me much. Because the next thing Renee did was stand up, tears still streaming down her face, and tug her t-shirt off over her head. Which left her in only a sports bra. Gulp.

My eyes darted between two places- her face and her, ahem, chest. Without so much as an acknowledgment to her outrageous act, Renee lowered herself into a split and then stretched her spine. Then she started doing karate kicks in the empty space of the room. Despite the incredible view, I left to go see what chaos my brother was creating.

As soon as I drew within earshot of him, he spun to face me. "Do you get it?"

"Get what?"

"Get what she was saying!"

"Yeah."

"Thank the gods-"

"She blames me for everything."

"Argh!" Eros-slash-Eric rolled his eyes and threw his hands into the air in despair. "No, idiot. What she was really saying, beneath the words!"

"Huh?"

"You ever read the old-English version of Shakespeare?"

"I have dyslexia, a mild case of ADD, and you expect me to read Shakespeare written in old English?"

"You are hopeless, Tyler."

"You wanna know how many children of Aphrodite have said that to me?"

"How can you not understand what she's telling you? Does she have to spell everything out for you, 'cause that is not going to happen."

"I'm good with love, but I suck at being in love," I complained.

Eros-slash-Eric's eyes darted to a point somewhere behind me then back to my face. "I'm going to share a little statistic with you. The reason for ninety-nine percent of failed relationships is lack of communication."

I blinked. I knew that! He couldn't just throw something I knew in my face and act like it was supposed to be some great boon for me to exclaim over- wait just a minute. Lack of communication.

I'd kissed Renee. She'd shoved me away. We didn't talk to each other. We didn't look at each other. Renee woke me in the middle of the night so she could escape to my house. Renee cried and said _don't you get it? It's you. It's all you. _And that was it. That was all we'd said to each other about this. I hadn't even attempted to verbalize my feelings. I'd just assumed she'd get the message.

So, what if it wasn't the message I'd been sending that had gotten her upset, but the message she heard. And if the message she heard was different from what I meant, then...

I needed to talk with her. To sit down and talk with her. Preferably, with all my skin intact by the end of our talk.


	10. Chapter 10

**The Son of the Love Goddess Chapter 10**

**A/N: It's a record! It's been nine days. And I have another chapter for you all! **

"_The only worse thing than a boy who hates you: a boy who loves you." -Markus Zusak_

Keeping my resolution about talking to Renee was much harder than making the resolution.

Don't believe me? Well, you try talking about your feelings with the lethal girl you're in love with, then come tell me I'm wrong.

This is how I pictured the conversation going.

_Hey, Renee. _

_What do you want, pretty boy? _

_Umm, yeah. You know how we were friends? And you remember how we stopped being friends? Well, I just wanted to clarify a few points. _

_Oh, yeah, like what? _

_Well, like when I kissed you- _

And that's about when I either die or get hit so hard I become paralyzed.

Aren't fantasies wonderful for confidence?

After giving me the ticking bomb that was his idea of advice, Eric-slash-Eros had disappeared. I literally could not find him anywhere.

Desperate to procrastinate, I went outside to greet the neighbors as they walked up their driveway.

"Hey, Amy," I smiled, then to her parents added, "Hi, I'm Tyler. My sister and I live right over there." I pointed to my house and then stretched my hand out to shake theirs.

"Nice to meet you, Tyler."

Before I could say anything more, Eric-slash-Eros appeared. "Tyler, bro, I thought you were gonna talk to-" He stopped as his eyes flicked up and down Amy's body. One eyebrow raised and he smiled.

"This is Eric, he's my half-brother. He's staying with me for a little while," I introduced Eric-slash-Eros.

I made polite conversation for a while, but I couldn't stop thinking about what I had to do in the near future. How the Hades was I supposed to breach that topic?

After we waved goodbye, Eric-slash-Eros turned to me, "I'm going to go find a pretty girl. You better talk to her while I'm gone. I don't want to be stuck around here forever."

"I don't want you to be either," I grumbled.

I turned towards the house and plodded towards the door. In light of my dread and low self-confidence, the house looked terrifying in a way it never had before. If I didn't get my "happy ending" then this was about to become a place for me to mope for a long time.

_Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock. _My fist rapped against the hardwood in a rapid series of noises.

"You can come in, Tyler," Renee's voice hit my ears like a punch. I winced.

_Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea. Turn around now before you die. You'll never get into Elysium... go do something heroic then come and talk to her. Wait until you're ready to die. _Wimpy Tyler was yelling at me. He did not agree with Eros' opinion about what I should do.

_Do it now. Or you'll never, ever do it. _Wise Tyler was yelling too.

_Great. This is driving you crazy. _Cynical Tyler had learned well from the master, Clara.

I stepped backwards.

_Procrastinator! _Wise Tyler and Cynical Tyler were on the same side for the first time.

I opened the door. "How'd you know it was me?" Wow. My mouth worked. And the words that came out made sense! I even sounded normal!

"Why do you sound like you are being threatened by the guillotine?" Renee looked up at me. "You look like it too."

"The what-o-tine?"

"A guillotine was a machine used to behead people."

"Oh. Um. Right." I cleared my throat awkwardly. Guess I didn't sound so normal after all.

Renee leaned back against the bed, setting down the items in her hands. I looked down at the things scattered across the floor.

"Do I want to know what you're doing?" I asked.

_Procrastinating again_, Cynical Tyler chimed in.

Renee smirked, "Sharpening blades and polishing my armor."

The image of me dying popped into my head again.

"Can I talk to you?" I asked, unnecessarily.

"You've never had a problem talking before, so I doubt you're going to go mute now." Renee's comment could have been amused, but she said it in a flat, hard edged voice which made it threatening.

"Why did everything between us change so dramatically for the worse?"

"Did someone erase your memory?"

"No. I know what I did. I just want to know why that changed everything."

"Oh, yes. I should have known. After all, what is a little kiss between 'friends'?" Renee glared at me. I thanked every god I could think of that looks couldn't kill.

"No, that's not what I meant!"

"Rubbish. You're a son of Aphrodite. You break people's hearts to get what you want. You don't care for anyone except yourself."

"Hold on. Rewind just a little bit. When have I ever broken anyone's heart? I would never be cruel like that just because..." I stopped talking. I was having another epiphany. "Are you saying I broke your heart?"

"I never said any such thing."

"But you implied it."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Renee, at least tell me the truth. That's all I'm asking."

"Fine."

Silence.

"Well?"

"You, Tyler, son of Aphrodite, broke my heart. Ridiculous as that phrase is."

"But... how.. I... would never..."

"Use me? Use me like you've used other girls. Kiss us not because you care, but because you like kissing. Fool around, because it's just play to you. And when the girl is pregnant, that's when you decide, oh well, this has been fun, bye-bye and good luck with the baby."

It was just too much to process. My legs wobbled and I slid down the wall until I was sitting on the ground.

In her indirect way, she was telling me several extremely private things.

One: she loved me. Renee. Loved. Me.

Two: she thought I'd kissed her, not because I'd had any sort of feelings toward her, but because I was a horny teenage boy. Which, yeah, I had done a few times before. But only when I knew the girl wanted the same.

Three: Once upon a time, Renee had been in love. She'd had a boyfriend. He'd gotten her pregnant and then left.

She'd told me all that without definitely telling me anything. So, I could be just extrapolating from nothing. But I didn't think I was.

"Renee, I would never hurt anyone like that, much less you. I kissed you because, well, 'cause I love you." Someone else had taken possession of my mouth. It was no longer my brain that was deciding what words came out.

A voice echoed quietly in my head, _you're welcome, my son. _

_Thanks, Mom. _I answered. Being rude to a goddess, especially your mom, is something you do _not _want to do.

Renee looked over at me. "Why should I believe you?"

"You think I would say that if I didn't mean it?" I asked. Renee's face remained wary so I continued, "You think I would risk the death I would receive from you, Clara, Casey, my mom, and Mike?"

Renee smiled slightly. It was the first real smile she'd had since our kiss. I wanted so badly to reach over and touch her cheek, but I wasn't sure what I was allowed to do and what I wasn't.

Renee slid over towards me. She rested her head heavily against my shoulder. "I hope you know I'll kill you if you hurt me again."

"You've got to beat my family to it, then."

We sat like that for a minute or two. Then Renee lifted her head. She pressed her lips against the side of my mouth. Automatically, the world spinning around me, I turned my head towards her, my heads reaching into her hair to cradle her head.

The kiss was ended abruptly when Renee started crying again. I hugged her, waiting for the monsoon to pass. Renee never cried, yet she'd already sobbed twice today.

"You act so much like him sometimes, it scares me."

I didn't ask any questions. Renee had already told me more than she had meant to.

Renee added one last thing, "I'm afraid that you'll leave me, just like he left me, in a bad position."

**A/N: Okay. Wow. Yeah. That was not what I meant to write. The part about Renee having been in love before with someone who got her pregnant and left was not part of any plan I had for this story. **

**What do you think?**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Another update! It's a miracle! This chapter doesn't really have much plot or fluff, it's just setting a few things straight and setting the scene for the next chapter. * Drum roll ***

_"Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile." -Franklin P. Jones_

Dreams are not strange for demigods. Dreams that are true are usually messages from the gods. My mom sends me a lot of messages.

_Renee's hand slips easily into mine. I smile at her. _

"_How was school today?" Her British accent is familiar to my ears. I barely notice it. _

"_Boring. Missed you all day long. German isn't any fun without you." _

_Renee rolls her eyes, something she does often when I'm around. It's her way of expressing her love for me. _

"_What are you doing tonight?" Her voice has a lilt in it. She's been up to mischief again. _

"_Hangin' with you." _

_Her eyes darken. "I need to talk to you about something." _

"_What?" My voice is terse. I don't want to talk about serious nonsense. When will she realize I don't care about her stupid mom or her stupid brother? _

_Her arms cross against her chest and her hands become fists. Her mouth remains clamped shut. _

"_If you have something to tell me, then for God's sake, tell me!" _

"_Jacob, I'm pregnant." _

_She's WHAT?_

_Her face is stormy. There's a hurricane building behind her eyes. _

_I stand up. Renee looks up at me. _

"_Where are you going?" Her voice is stiff, emotionless. She never shows emotion. It's something I hate about her. _

"_I'm outta here." _

"_What?" Her voice isn't breathy or happy. It's deadly. "You wouldn't dare. You love your life too much." _

"_Which is exactly the reason I don't want to deal with _your_ problems anymore." _

"_Don't you know how babies are made, Jacob? Do you need a reminder?" _

"_It's your problem, Irenee." I start to walk away, but her fist hits me in the back of the head. I stagger. That bitch punched me. _

_The dream ended and I was myself again. I was in a shopping mall. In the girl's section. In other words, I was still dreaming. _

"_Tyler, dear," a woman's voice made me spin around. It was the most beautiful woman in the world- my mother. "I want you to learn from these dreams. You need to know about her. Don't make the idiot's mistake."_

"_Yes, mother."_

"_Say hello to your brother for me." Aphrodite turned away from me. She flipped through a rack of v-necked silk shirts. They all looked like the kind of clothes Melanie would die for. _

_The dream shifted again. I was still myself. Except I was a ghost, not a part of what happened around me. _

_I was in the hallway of someone's house. In front of me was an ajar door. Inside were the sounds of destruction and sobbing. It was a racket I knew all too well. It was the racket Renee made. _

_I moved to open the door, but I floated through it instead. _

_The room was wrecked. Renee sat in the middle of the disaster, tears running down her face, both hands pressed to her stomach. _

I was jolted awake abruptly. Renee was standing over me. "Hey, sleepyhead, are you planning to get up anytime soon?"

"I was havin' a dream. And I was _asleep_. Stop interrupting my-"

"-beauty sleep." Renee smirked at me. She grabbed my hand and pulled me from my bed. I landed with a thump on the floor.

Renee's breath caught in her throat. I lounged on the floor, hands behind my head, grinning lazily. Just because my relationship with Renee was different from any other relationship I'd had, didn't mean I didn't know when someone was admiring me.

"Your brother is eating all the food in the kitchen. You might want to eat before there is nothing left."

But when I got down to the kitchen, Eros-slash-Eric was nowhere. There was a note on the table. Basically, it said he was going to go see how much trouble he could possibly cause.

Renee swung the fridge open, the door nearly hitting me before I leaped out of the way. Renee smiled to herself and I smiled too. Despite everything I'd learned about her, Renee was still Renee. "Do you have any real food in this house?" I waved the box of pop tarts in my hand around. "Real food, Tyler, not chemical sugar." "Cereal and pop tarts are the only things I cook." Renee turned to the fridge and gave the nearly empty appliance an annoyed look. Her hair caught the light and her golden skin absorbed it. She was beautiful. Renee found some passable bread, which she ate toasted with butter. We sat at thr kitchen counter, on the wooden spinny stools. "What happened to your baby?" I blurted without thinking about the consequences. Renee's face hardened. "What do you mean?" "The baby Jacob got you pregnant with, the main reason he left." "Since when do you know the details about me and Jacob? For that matter, how do you even know his name?" "My mom sent me dreams. But you interrupted before I got to the ending." I had been looking at my cereal dreading her reaction, so when I looked up to find silent tears falling down her face it surprised me. I stood and stepped forward, wrapping my arms around the hurting girl. "I had a miscarriage. I was nearly four months pregnant and no one else knew and I was too young... but it still _hurts_." What would it be like to go through something as difficult as that and not even have anyone who cared enough to know about it? "Please tell me you at least gave the guy a solid beating," I said into her long hair which was actually quite silky when it wasn't being whipped around. "I nearly got sent to jail... he called the police on me." "How did you not get sent to jail?" "I told them that he had attacked me because he got mad about the baby. He looked so angry and out of control that they believed me." "He went to jail?" My voice was hopeful, like I was a little kid and I thought Renee had a chocolate for me. "For one night. Then his parents pulled a bunch of strings and got him out of there, no questions asked." "I'm so sorry." Renee pulled away so she could look at me. "It's not your fault. You have never even met him." "I'm a guy, aren't I?" I paused, then said, "Actually, I'm surprised you would talk to any guy after that. Not for a long time." "Everyone gets lonely." "You would know that better than anyone else, wouldn't you?" "So would you." "I've got Clara, Casey, and my unbearable twin sister, and my brother, and..." "I have just as many half-siblings as you do. That doesn't mean we- you aren't lonely." I grinned slyly. "And now _we_ have each other. Isn't that what you were going to say next?"  
"Just because you know everything doesn't me I won't hit you," Renee threatened, her fingers pinching the skin of my arm. I leaped back clutching the spot she had touched. "OW!"

Renee and Eros-slash-Eric were talking in the kitchen. Their words were terse and it sounded like the kind of conversation which came very close to making Renee lose her temper.

"You admire him," Eros-slash-Eric said.

"Your point?"

"You what me?" I yelped, shocked. As I realized what I'd done, my eyes widened and I clamped my mouth shut. I pressed myself against the wall, praying a miracle would occur and Renee wouldn't have heard me. It was silent and my pulse started slowing.

"Eavesdropping?" Renee asked me, appearing literally out of nowhere and scaring me half to Hades.

"No. I was walking by and I happened to hear what he said."

"Translation: he was eavesdropping." Eros-slash-Eric is such a wonderfully helpful brother.

"Yes, I admire you. Except for your fighting skills. Those are just pathetic."

"What?" I was absolutely flabbergasted. Renee. Admired. Me.

"Do you need the definition of admiration?"

I sent him a dirty look. "Why would you admire me?"

"You're a good person," Renee shrugged, "you help people without seeming to think about it. And you care almost nothing about what people think."

"Almost?" I asked.

"You are too vain to care nothing for what others think." Renee walked off, flexing her muscles, probably going to beat up one of the trees in the backyard. Hey, it had happened before.

I turned back around to find Eros-slash-Eric watching me. "Is there something you want?"

"Watch the insolence, brother. I would hate to have to incinerate you now."

I heaved a large sigh and tried to walk past my darling brother. He stopped me.

"Your job isn't over, you know."

"What the Hades are you talking about now?"  
"You still haven't asked Renee out."

I touched my ears experimentally then said, "I'm sorry. My ears must have been malfunctioning. I could have sworn you just told me to ask Renee out on a date."

**A/N: Whaddya think? **

_**Scribe: Tyler, do you believe that love at first sight exists and works? **_

**Tyler: Some people believe in it. I guess it works for them, but I don't buy it. Because I was definitely not in love with Renee the first time I met her. I pretty much hated her.**

_**Scribe: When was the first time you saw her, then?**_

**Tyler: It was my first day at camp and the first time I'd ever seen a sword, let alone touched one. Whoever chose Renee as my instructor wanted me to die, because I ended up in the infirmary for three weeks after that. Actually, it might have been Clarisse who assigned Renee to teach me. That would make sense. But, yeah. You try being someone who is not a natural fighter and the first time you've ever touched a sword, you're stuck with a girl who loves to maim and injure her opponents and has had plenty of practice doing so. **


	12. Chapter 12

**Son of the Love Goddess Chapter 12**

**A/N: Sorry in advance that Tyler acts a little weird throughout this chapter... In my own defense, Tyler's a little bit freaked out. **

Eros-slash-Eric smirked at me. I was sitting in my room, trying not to panic. Would anyone like to guess how many hundreds of girls I've asked out on dates before? Well, I never had any problems asking them. I just smiled, flirted, and a bunch of other stuff that would not work with Renee.

"I can call up one of your sisters and ask her to help you out, if you like." Eros was causing more trouble than usual. I lunged towards him and grabbed the phone.

"Don't you dare do anything like that!" I snarled at him. Yeah, I might have been just a little bit stressed.

"You look like you need the help."

"I'm absolutely fine. I don't need anyone's help."

"Help with what?" Renee asked, pushing my bedroom door open with one foot.

"WAAGH!" I shouted. Stop looking at me like that! She was holding a five foot long sword and it was pointed towards me.

"I think Tyler has something he wants to ask you," Eros-slash-Eric said with a shrug, then slipped out the door.

"What was it you wanted to ask me, pretty boy?"

"Umm... right. Actually. I was just thinking that maybe, you don't have to say yes or anything, it was just like a passing thought I had, and I was talking to Ero- Eric and he said that I should and I thought I would, but I don't think so anymore. In fact I think it might be better if I just-"

Renee slapped her hand onto my mouth. "Tyler. Shut up."

I took a deep breath and said, when she moved her hand, "Thanks. I needed that."

"Now, tell me in one sentence or less exactly what you wanted to ask me."

"." The words came out of my mouth so fast they turned into one syllable.

"Say it one more time, slowly."

"I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date with me." This was nerve wracking. Was this how regular guys felt every time they asked a girl out? Nothing could possibly be worth this. I closed my eyes and then opened one of them when Renee let out a whoop.

She was bent double, hands on her knees, gasping for breath. No, she wasn't dying, she was _laughing._ "The reason you're acting so weird is you wanted to ask me out?"

"I knew it was a bad idea," I mumbled to the air.

Renee shook her head and straightened. "No. I'd love to go out with you..." She collapsed onto my bed, letting her head roll back onto my pillow as she burst into laughter once more.

"What is so funny?" I asked, a little irritated, but mostly ecstatic.

"You looked terrified... of me!"

I sat down on my bed and crossed my arms. I pretended to be irritated, but any anger I felt at her reaction drained away as I watched her. She was laying on my bed, clutching her belly, a look of utter happiness on her face. How was it possible for her to be so beautiful?

My own thought surprised me. I'd never thought of a girl as beautiful, except Renee. Pretty, sure, hot, definitely, but not beautiful. Not counting my sisters of course- some of them were truly stunning- but who counts family?

Renee's laughter slowed to a stop. I came out of my revery to see her staring at me just as I was staring at her. Renee glanced down at the bed and quickly stood up. "So. Umm."

"If you're not ready by five o'clock, then I'll just leave without you."

Renee snorted. "Of the two of us, which one spends more time on his appearance?"

"Hey!"

Renee smirked and reached up to ruffle my hair. Then she pressed her lips to my cheek and left.

I now had exactly four hours, twenty minutes, and two seconds until I was going on a date with Renee.

What had I gotten myself into?

I stared at myself in the mirror, vaguely wondering how painful it would be to bang my head against the wall. Eros-slash-Eric smirked at me, sniggering under his breath. What in Olympus could be so funny?

"What?" I demanded.

"I'm just wondering how you can possibly be a son of Aphrodite..."

"Not all of us are full of godly powers."

"You don't need godly powers, just courage."

I wanted to tell him to stuff it, but that would've been considered disrespectful and I actually did want to live longer than five minutes.

I blinked, shook my head, and repeated to myself the advice I'd given to my sisters dozens of times before. _Have fun, don't do anything stupid, and smile. _

Once again, I carefully regarded myself in the mirror. I was wearing my favorite pair of jeans; a tight fitting, bright green short sleeve; and a pair of skateboarding shoes. My shades were in my hand, waiting to be slipped on.

"Didn't Renee say she was going to leave without you if you weren't ready to go at five o'clock?"

"No, that's what I said to her... how did you hear that?"

"Oh, please, Tyler, I don't need to stoop to human tricks like eavesdropping to know what's going on around me."

"Well, pardon me."

"Just thought you'd like to know- it's four fifty-eight."

I grabbed my phone from the dresser, flipped it open and found that Eros-slash-Eric had actually been telling the truth. I raced towards my bedroom door, skidded to a stop, turned around, and grabbed my wallet. Then I darted out towards the door again, flying haphazardly through the door frame. I was moving a little too quickly and carelessly and I accidentally slammed my big toe into the side of my door. I winced and then tried to pretend I hadn't felt anything. It almost worked.

To my immense surprise, Renee wasn't anywhere downstairs. Was she still in the guest bedroom? Or had she just chickened out? No, Renee would never chicken out of anything. So she was just taking her time. No reason to panic, just take a deep, deep breath. Control the ADD...

Oh. My. Gods.

"Shut your mouth, pretty boy, or you're going to collect flies."

I shut my mouth and looked down at my hands, pretending she hadn't just caught me staring at her.

Renee's normal outfit consisted of either a camo or blood-red t-shirt, well used, slightly baggy jeans or basketball shorts, and boots. Renee always left her hair to its own devices.

The beyond beautiful girl who walked down the stairs was wearing her hair in two long braids with a few strands left out to frame her face. She was wearing a red v-neck, jean shorts that revealed her long, muscled, and tanned legs, and flip-flops. Did I mention that it was a low-cut v-neck?

"Is there a reason you always wear a shirt that looks like it was died with blood."

"It scares off the boys." Renee's eyes were a little wider than normal and filled with fake innocence.

"Not me," I said, "I'm made of stronger stuff."

"Casey is stronger than you are."

"Are you comparing me to my little sister? And finding me lacking?"

"Of course I am."

"C'mon, let's go before you start comparing me to Mike."

"Where are we going?" Renee's hand moved to her belt- the place where she normally kept _Fire-biter_ in it's gun form.

"The diner. They have the best food in the universe there."

Renee started to walk towards the front door, but I stopped her. I opened the garage door, unlocked my car, and pressed the remote that made the garage door slide up.

"You know how to drive?" Renee sounded extremely skeptical.

"Yes."

Renee got into the passenger seat, looking highly doubtful. "You driving a car sounds like a bad idea to me, but whatever."

I backed out of the driveway and turned onto the road. I drove to intersection and turned onto the road that lead into town.

"Turn signal, Tyler!"

"Turn what?" I asked.

Renee glared at me. "Please tell me you have your driver's liscense."

"Course not."

Renee punched my arm.

"Kidding!"

"Don't kid about stuff like that."

Renee's voice was so tight and hard that I turned to look at her. Her face was set and slightly pinched, her jaws were clenched, and her hands were holding the armrests so tightly I thought they might fall off.

"Are you-"

"Eyes on the road, please, Tyler."

I turned back to the road, my eyes as wide as saucers. "You're afraid of cars?"

"No. I'm afraid of getting in a car crash. A very reasonable fear since it's only happened five times before."

"You've been in a car crash _five times_?"

"You've never seen my mother drive. When I'm in the passenger seat, the right side of the car is always in the danger zone."

"Well, we're almost there and I promise I won't try to kill you."

Renee nodded and took a shaky breath. It was only a couple minutes later that we pulled into the parking lot, but it seemed like forever, most likely because Renee flinched every time another car approached us.

Renee's feet were on the concrete and the passenger door was shut before I even finished turning off the engine. I got out slowly, locking the car behind me. Renee was leaning against the trunk, looking completely composed. It was a facade, but it nearly convinced me.

"You okay?"

Renee took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Let's go eat," I suggested.

We walked up to the door and walked through, the dinging of electric bells gracing our arrival. We only had to wait for a minute before someone came to seat us.

"Tyler!" One of the waitresses rushed over to where Renee and I were standing. She enveloped me in a hug and then stood back, looking me over critically. "I haven't seen you in a long time!"

"Hey, Bea."  
"And this enchanting young lady must be from your summer camp!" Bea turned her enthusiastic energy on Renee. Bea's about forty years old, but she has more energy than I could ever muster. She cares for everyone- she feeds stray cats, random kids, and mothers every living creature she deems in need of help.

"Yes. Bea, this is Renee. Renee, this is Bea."

"Lovely to meet you, dear." Bea turned to me, "And your sisters? How is Terri? And Casey? And your brother Mike?"

"All good. Casey's going to be staying with Terri and I some more this winter."

"You bring her by here and I'll give her one of her favorite shakes, on the house, you hear?"

"She'll be here as soon as camp ends," I promised Bea.

Bea eyed me, "Are you making sure she eats? That girl is nothing but skin and bone. Terri, too."

"Casey eats twice as much as I do, Bea. And Terri eats plenty of salad."

"Salad?" Bea rolled her eyes, "What girl in this world can survive on only salad? We all need a little sugar now and then."

I opened my mouth to say that Terri could give a professional lecture on the evils of sugar, but I was interrupted by another customer.

"Hey! You still haven't taken my order, woman!" A man who looked- and smelled- like a trucker yelled at Bea.

"If you think you can order me about, then you can think again, mister," Bea glared at the man and I winced. Sweet and lovable as she was, Bea was the kind of person who turns downright terrifying when you get on her bad side.

"This way, you two," Bea said, scooping up two menus and showing us to a two person booth in the corner.

After Bea had gone to take the trucker's order, Renee said, "She seems sweet, except when he got her mad."

"Kinda like someone else I know."

Renee shook her head and flicked my hand with her fingernail. "She acted like she was your aunt..."

"No, Bea just likes to adopt people."

Renee raised her eyebrows, waiting to here the story. "Why would she want to adopt you and Terri?"

"My dad and I used to have lunch here all the time. The last time we came, he was suffering withdrawal. He'd lost his drugs-" I hesitated, the words tasting sour in my mouth. "He tried to hit me when I said something that upset him. Bea saw, gave him a thorough telling off, and decided I needed a responsible adult caretaker. During the school year, she comes to our house, cooks meals, cleans, and talks our ears off all the time. Bea and Terri don't get along perfectly, but they manage."

Renee watched me intently, "Just one question- what did you say to your dad to upset him so much?"

"I told him it was a wise decision to stop taking drugs."

"Tyler, you have a gift for saying exactly the wrong thing. Did you know that?"

I didn't answer because a waitress walked up to us just then. Instead I said, "Hey, Laurie, how are things?"

"Good, yourself?"

"Awesome."

"Can I get you two something to drink?" Laurie asked, though in reality she was asking Renee since she already knew and had written down my drink.

"I'll have a Coke," Renee decided.

"Okay, I'll be right back with that."

Renee looked over at me. "How often do you come here? You know all the waitresses, they know what you're going to order before you order it, and they know Casey and Mike."

"During the non-camp part of the year, I come here almost every other day."

"That's a healthy lifestyle."

"Do I look fat to you?" I protested.

Renee regarded my torso. "Yes, actually."

"You're looking at muscle, not body fat!"

Renee laughed, shaking her head at me, "Oh, Tyler, you are so easy to provoke."

"Here you go." Laurie slid Renee's Coke onto the table. "And one Tyler-special." She slid my drink onto the table in front of me. "Bea'll be round in just a minute to take your orders."

"What is a Tyler-special?" Renee asked suspiciously, peering at my drink as I started to suck it up.

"Basically, it's hot chocolate with mint chocolate chip ice cream and whip cream."

"That's not a drink- it's a desert."

"It's delicious!"

"You are so incredibly bizarre, pretty boy."

We talked for a few more minutes, then discussed the menu options.

Bea stopped by just as Renee had decided what she nodded. "You know what you want, Renee?"

"Yeah- I'll have the steak."

"How would you like that done?"

Renee ordered her steak medium rare and with french fries, glazed carrots, and a salad.

"Are you going to eat all that?" I asked when she had finished ordering.

"Are you implying something, buster?"

"Nope."

"Then, yes, I am going to eat all that. If you think _I _eat a lot, then never, ever, ever offer to pay for one of my brother's meals."

"Which usual are you going to have today, Tyler? We have everything you like except the Parmesan."

"I think today I'll have the buffalo."

"Sure thing." Bea jotted down a note on the slip of paper that contained our order and bounced away to serve the next person.

"She has to spend ten minutes going over the choices with everyone else, but with you, you don't even have to say the name of the dish."

"I'm special."

"Yes, you are."

"You make special sound like a bad thing," I complained.

Renee just grinned at me.

The food must have been just as delicious as usual because Renee loved it and praised it almost incessantly. Honestly, I tasted nothing of what went into my mouth.

My entire mind was concentrated on Renee. We talked and laughed and ate. It was the best date I'd ever been on, hands down.

When the time came for dessert, we agreed to get ice cream at the dairy bar across the road. I said goodbye to Bea and Laurie and everyone else and we left, bypassing the car without a glance in it's direction.

I ordered a large (four scoops) moosetracks on a waffle cone. Renee ordered a small (two scoops) raspberry on a sugar cone.

"Do you eat like this all the time?" She asked me, eyeing my towering ice cream cone.

"Yes, there's nothing wrong with the way I eat. Your brothers eat ten times what I eat! Your dinner was like three times bigger than mine!"

"I meant, do you always eat this much sugar and calories?"

I smiled guiltily.

Renee laughed. "I wonder how many people your sisters would kill to have your metabolism."

I snorted. "As many as necessary. Fatal flaw right there."

Renee leaned back against the table, straightening out her legs so the stretched in front of her. I couldn't stop my eyes from trailing down their muscled lengths.

"Mmm, this is the best ice cream ever. How come you know all the places for the best food?"

"I'm stomach savvy."

"If that was supposed to be a joke, then it was so lame it wasn't even funny."

"You're hurting my feelings."

"Aww, the poor little baby Tyler got his feelings hurt by the big, ugly, mean Renee."

"Definitely not ugly," I murmured.

"Some would argue with you about that, you know."

"Only if they're legally blind."

I must've been going blind myself because I could swear Renee blushed. Blushed!

Ha! She was susceptible to my wiles! Mwahahahaha!

"-switch to a different topic, _please_," Renee was saying when I came out of my ADD trance.

"No problem," I said, then, for full impact, waited a moment before continuing, "So, when are you going to head back to camp?"

Renee's fist hit my belly.

"You-" gasp "-seriously-" gasp "-need to-" gasp "-stop-" gasp "-doing that!"

Renee gave me a look. It was one of those do-I-really-need-to-answer-that-dumb-as-Ares-question? looks.

"Jeesh, I was kidding. You can stay at my house as long as you like. But, fair warning, my sisters are going to come home eventually. There's only another three weeks of summer left and Terri always starts visiting her mortal friends before camp is over."

Renee said, "When are you going to learn to keep your mouth shut? It could save you millions of bruises and cuts."

"Self-control? What- are you kidding?"

Renee shook her head and the conversation turned to other, less sensitive matters. I managed to get through another two hours without a single bruise.

Later, long after our ice cream was gone, Renee and I were meandering back in the general direction of the car. Renee looked about ready to barf.

When we got to the car, Renee slid in reluctantly and buckled her seat belt. Her hands clenched so tightly around everything she touched, I was worried my car would fall apart any second. I got into the driver's seat and leaned over to kiss Renee's cheek.

I whispered in her ear, "Relax. It'll only take a few minutes to get back."

I started the car and eased out of the parking lot and onto the road. I drove at the exact speed limit for a couple miles before my phone started buzzing.

I took it out of my pocket and flipped the silver thing open.

_One new message from _Eros the Love Dude.

I rolled my eyes and pressed the 'read' button.

_Mom needs me. Be back tomorrow. Have fun! ;)_

This was either really good news or really bad news. I couldn't figure out which.

Renee grabbed the phone out of my hand. "Texting while driving. You're going to send us to Hades," she said through clenched teeth.

"Please don't look at that message!" I begged.

So, of course, Renee read the message. "Eric is really Eros in disguise?"

I nodded mutely, carefully keeping my eyes on the road even though Renee seemed to be thoroughly distracted.

"Your mom must have a lot of faith in you." Sarcasm alert.

"You're not mad?"

"Of course I'm mad. I hate it when the gods interfere with my life. It royally sucks."

"At me?"

"Not yet."

That was comforting.

I drove the rest of the way home without incident. By the time we got back, Renee had set my phone down and was again trying to break my poor car.

I got out quickly, but Renee still beat me out of the car by at least twenty seconds. She leaned against the front door, her eyes closed in a rare moment of weakness.

"Hey, it's okay." I smiled. "Both of us are still alive. My car is still in one piece despite your best efforts."

Her lips twitched and she muttered, "Always one to look on the bright side, pretty boy."

Once again, I noticed how the insult became less of an insult and more of a compliment when she spoke it now. It was almost as if she had to remind herself that she was a daughter of Ares.

I stepped closer to the door and thus closer to Renee. I was just unlocking the door, but when Renee opened her eyes, I'm guessing she didn't see it quite that way.

Her green eyes widened in surprise and then nearly started glowing in the dark. Renee tilted her head so she was closer (if that was even possible) to me. My senses went into hyperdrive, noticing everything from the short hairs tucked behind Renee's ear to the chirping of a cricket near my feet. Then her lips touched mine and my senses refocused. I moved until I was leaning against the door with one hand and holding her neck with the other.

Just as I was about to pull away to breath, the door slammed open causing both of us to tumble inside.

Renee stumbled once and fell against the wall with a slight thump while I tripped and hopped until I landed on the tiles with a bang. The pain exploded in my chest and I laid my head down on the floor. I opened my mouth to suck in air that would not come.

Renee's knees came into my line of sight as she knelt next to me.

"You still alive?"

"Ungh." My voice was barely louder than a whisper and croaky.

Renee slid her arms around me and lifted my deadweight up. Once I was standing, she put her shoulder under my arm and with her arm around my waist, helped me to the couch. I collapsed onto it. I still couldn't breath.

You know the expression 'had the wind knocked out of you'? I've experienced it many times and it never feels as trivial as it sounds. Having the 'wind knocked out of you' feels more like an elephant stepped on your chest.

I opened my eyes to look at Renee. Her body was shaking and she had put her hands up to her face.

"What. Now." I managed to say.

"You just can't keep yourself from getting hurt, can you?" Renee's voice was rich with amusement.

"Not. Funny." My breath was slowly coming back into my lungs.

Renee kept laughing as I turned on the TV and flicked through the channels to find something to watch.

**A/N: So, what did everyone think? **


	13. Chapter 13

"_All's fair in love and war." -Someone_

**Scribe: I know that you're a daughter of Ares and everything...**

**Renee: You want to know why I whack Tyler around so much? I'm teaching him important lessons. Lessons he needs to learn. Like how his ego, and his head, are a little over-inflated. And no, the time I punched him because he kissed me, was not a lesson. **

"Where are you going?" Renee confronted me.

"Back to Camp," I said with an implied, _no big deal_.

"You're leaving me alone with him?" Renee gestured to Eros, who was randomly going through the cupboards. He was still around, but I didn't know why. Renee and I were together; we'd gone on a date; Eros' job was over.

"You could always come back to Camp with me." I ignored the immediate glare.

"Have fun explaining your sudden absence to Chiron and your sisters."

"Yeah, right. It's going to be a picnic." I already knew how nosy and pushy Clara and Casey were going to be about it. Mike would just figure there was something I had to do and if I wanted to tell him I would. In a way, Mike was my favorite sibling.

"Good luck," Renee said. She leaned in and lightly pressed her lips to mine. I responded immediately, encircling her in my arms and returning the kiss. Renee smiled and broke from my grip, walking upstairs and leaving me no choice but to get it over with.

When I stumbled out of the forest a couple minutes later, I was flying high on the feeling of Renee's lips on mine. Gods, I _still_ couldn't think straight.

Camp looked normal enough as I walked through the strawberry patches. Nothing seemed wrong, but the hair on my arms was standing on end.

"What the Hades do you think you are doing? Get out! Get out! Get out!" Katie sprang at me from behind, shoving me off her precious soil.

"It's just strawberries and and dirt," I said.

It was the wrong thing to say because Katie started to blow steam out of her ears. I'd had other experiences like this one with the Demeter kids. They were all prejudiced against me.

"Next time you step on a strawberry, I'll friggin' kill you!"

"Nice to see you too, Katie."

Katie's attack had set me at ease- there was nothing more normal at Camp Half-Blood than Katie yelling at people in her strawberries- but it vanished when I stepped into the circle of cabins. I could see no one. The climbing wall was empty, the pavilion was deserted, the beach and pond were vacant, and it was silent.

I was nearing the arena when I heard a loud bellow of voices. I winced. Hadn't I always said Camp Half-Blood was half a second away from total disaster?

The arena was a mob scene. Everyone was turned to the middle, shouting and cursing at a huddled group of people. People wearing fashionable clothes and cute hairstyles...

People who were related to me.

I squeezed my way through the wall of people. I broke free of the sweaty mass and tripped over a small, black foot. As my back hit the ground, I looked up into Casey's face.

"Case, what the Hades happened?"

"The girls had a makeover contest."

"But then why-"

"Are all these people about to kill us? They did a cabin makeover contest."

"They-"

"Where have you been anyway?"

"I was-"

"Because you could have stopped this and you didn't and now we're in trouble and I want to kill you because they kicked me out while they were 'fixing' our cabin and-"

"- at the house, hanging out with a few soccer friends-"

"-a bunch of angry Ares kids came for me because someone had taken their boar's head and replaced it with-"

"Casey. If you want me to talk to you, then you have to be quiet."

"Duck!"

I ducked and a duck- where the Hades did the duck come from?- flew over my head.

"What the Hades happened to this place? Where is Chiron? Mr. D? Any form of authority or sanity?"

"They're probably trying to stop the climbing wall from overflowing with love potion and perfume instead of lava. Or they might be turning the Big House white again. Or turning the volleyballs and basketballs back into balls instead of the heart shapes. Or they could be-"

"Okay, okay! I get it, Casey. The whole camp fell apart and you didn't stop it or warn me or anything."

"When's the last time you checked your cell, Tyler?"

"Um... the other day?"

"I left you at least twenty messages and texts about this."

"I guess I forgot to check my messages."

"What were you doing, Tyler?"

"Hanging out... with the guys? Playing soccer?"

"Oh, yeah, so busy playing soccer that you forgot to answer your phone."

"So I might have been with this girl..."

"That's what I thought."

Please let Casey assume it was just some random girl. Please, please, I'm begging you, whoever is listening.

"Tyler, you really need to get over mortal girls."

Thank you, o gods, thank you, o whoever-the-hades-is-listening-to-me! I shall be forever in your debt- actually, I'll just be grateful until something bad happens to me and then will blame you. So yeah. Where was I?

"I like mortal girls. They're-" I tried to think of one single thing mortal girls had going for them. I was coming up blank. What had Renee done to me? Only a couple long weeks ago, I could have spent hours explaining to Casey why I like mortal girls. Now, all I could think was that they didn't beat me up. Now whether that's a pro or con is up for debate.

"Yes, Tyler? Can't think of anything?" Casey was smirking. Bad sign.

"Uh, pretty?" was the best I could come up with.

"So you don't think I'm pretty?" Casey was destined to be an actress. No one else could have tears in her eyes within a split second's notice.

"You're a different kind of pretty."

"You think I'm ugly?" Casey's voice was tremulous.

"Of course not. I just wouldn't ever kiss you."

Casey's nose wrinkled as she forgot about her teary facade. "That's disgusting, Tyler."

I was just breathing a sigh of relief, glad the topic of my absence was done with when someone coughed in my ear.

"Gaah!" I whirled around. For the record, I do not scare easily. Clara just has this way of sneaking up on me and scaring the crap out of me.

"Hey, Tyler. Where were you?"

So much for being done with this topic. "At my house, hanging out, doing normal stuff, nothing much."

Casey didn't hold a candle to Clara when it came to interrogations. The person who stood up to Clara's questions and got away with any lies had to be the world's best spy.

"Oh, yeah? Why'd you leave?"

"Just felt like taking a break."

"In the middle of the night?"

Shoot. I'd been hoping she wouldn't have known that.

"Uh, yeah?"

"So why didn't you come back to check in on everything? You do that even in the winter."

"I didn't want to have to deal with my sisters... like I said, I really needed a break. So I just had some quality guy time."

"Didn't you just tell Casey you were hanging out with a mortal girl?"

Clara's interrogations would put the FBI and CIA and like government people to shame.

"Yeah, but that's different. I don't have to deal with mortal girl drama because I am the source of mortal girl drama." I felt fairly proud of that, because it was guaranteed to lead Clara off-track grumbling about egotistical guys.

"You suck at lying."

She couldn't know what I was lying about. She just couldn't.

"I don't know what you're lying about."

Whoa. Total telepathic moment.

Clara narrowed her eyes at me, "But I intend to find out."

Oh just great. I definitely needed a demigod detective on my trail.

**A/N: So yeah. Not my longest. But not bad. **


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Sorry for being gone for so long! But I'm back and I have a schedule for updating.**

**Every Monday (that I am home- I'm going to be away for four weeks this summer) a chapter of Son of the Love Goddess. Every Saturday a revised chapter for Pranks and Real Anger. Plus my Twilight stuff in there somewhere.**

"_True love is more than great- it's brilliant." -Rachel Vail_

It took me a long time to begin cleaning up my sisters' mess. First, a list had to be made. The list needed to encompass every problem or dilemma I had to overcome. So I spoke to each of the cabins about what my sister had done to them- I nearly died every time- and I talked with Chiron about the other things my sisters had done.

By the time the conch blew for dinner, I'd written down every problem and only fixed a couple of the larger ones. And been yelled at by five demigods, three nymphs, and a couple of naiads (they didn't appreciate the pink dye in the water of their pond). A great day.

"Tyler, is something wrong? You look a little worn out," Sophie said.

I picked up my head from where I'd lain it on the table. I blinked once, twice, three times. Was she serious" Did she really not get how much trouble they'd gotten into? Even Sophie couldn't be that stupid...

"Yeah, Tyler, you should try sleeping more. Exhaustion is ugly on everyone," said Terri.

Someone snickered and I turned, expecting to see Casey. Instead, it was Mike. He was smirking at me.

"After I'd elbowed him in the gut, I asked, "Where have you been? I've been confronted by every other camper here, but I couldn't find you anywhere." I added, even though I hadn't actually looked for Maya, " Maya, either, and I really could've used her help with a few things."

Mike just raised his eyebrows and smirked harder. Darn him. While I'd been risking a permanent visit to the Underworld, he'd been fooling around with his girlfriend.

"Jealous?"

"Shut up. Someday I'll make you be head counselor."

"Thanks, but no way, man."

"Don't worry, Mike," Casey butted in. "Tyler would never give up his responsibilities. He's too much of a worry wart."

"Thanks, Case."

"No problem."

I was half focused on the conversation, but I was alos glancing at my watch every five seconds, estimating how much time I had before Renee destroyed my house.

"... so you might want to handle that next. Because, dude, he is seriously pissed."

"Um, sure. Of course."What the Hades was Mike talking about? From the last little bit I figured it probably was something I should be worried about. Now if I only knew what he'd said...

It was six o'clock. Six-oh-two. Six-oh-three. Six-oh-four. Six-oh-four-and-a-half.

"Got a hot date or something?" Casey asked, when she caught me looking at my watch once more.

"With who?" Courtney demanded. Her rapt attention made me wonder if she was about to whip out a notepad and start taking notes. Which has actually happened before. My sisters aren't empty-headed girls; they are serious about gossip and fashion.n

"I don't have a date," I said. Thank you, Casey, now this was going to be the center of attention.

"Step one to love is denial!" Courtney whisper-sang.

Thank the gods that Chiron decided that was the moment to make an announcement.

"As I'm sure you are all aware, the Aphrodite cabin has- ahem- made a few mistakes. They will all be doing their best to clean up after themselves."

Translation: the Aphrodite girls went crazy and Chiron didn't try to stop them, so he's leaving it up to their counselor, who was absent at the time, to fix things.

Sometimes Chiron and I got along. And sometimes we did not. Most of the time when I had a problem with Chiron, my sisters were involved. Shocking, isn't it?

"Also, several people have recently decided to grow a jungle in the volleyball pit. This is not acceptable and the plants must be removed immediately."

Chiron dismissed everyone and most people wandered away to the fire or to their cabins.

"Tyler, I'm so glad you're back!" Mel said.

"Thanks, Mel. It's good to be back." Sort of.

"I mean, Terri just doesn't have it in her to be a counselor."

Finally! Someone understands.

"She made me take the trash out both times."

Or not.

"Don't worry; I'll fix that, Mel."

"Thanks!"

"No problem." Yes problem. I wanted to go back to my house, not stay here. I was going crazy wondering what would happen to my poor house under the combined pressure of Renee and Eros. Maybe I could just slip back to my house for the night. Maybe-

"Tyler, can I talk to you for a minute?"

I closed my eyes, wished I was alone with Renee, and opened them again. Shoot. Chiron was still standing there.

"Uh, sure?" Now, I know everyone thinks Chiron is a great guy-centaur actually- and I know I've said that the two of us often get along. But sometimes he can be a real pain.

"Tyler, you've had quite a bit of trouble with your sisters lately. And I understand that you've needed a break. But-"

I hate buts. They always mean something bad. Actually, I don't hate all butts. Renee's butt is pretty gorgeous.

"But you cannot leave in the middle of the night. You are the only camper I allow to leave on any basis and that only because your mother-" Chiron stopped talking, cleared his throat, and said, "In any cause, I must insist that I am aware of your location at all times."

"Fine, then you'll want to know I'm leaving and will be back for breakfast tomorrow morning."

"Make sure you call lights out and such for your cabin. Also, I believe we need to review the rules under which I allow you to leave. Number one among those being that you are not allowed to bring any demigods off camp grounds with you."

Like I said, he can be a real pain.

"I know, Chiron."

"So you would not happen to have broken that rule recently?"

"Oh yeah, sorry about that. I didn't want to take her along. But you know how persistant Casey can be."

"Mmm." He didn't believe me.

"Great talking with you. Bye!" I went to my cabin, called the lights out, and left, leading to even more rumours about my hot date.

When I got back to my house, I was met by a frowning Renee in my back yard.

"Tyler," Renee said.

"Hey, you remembered my real name," I said in the hope that a joke would diffuse her mood.

"Are you gay?" She asked, bluntly.

"Only if you're a guy."

A glare and silence.

"Renee, I'm not gay. Why would you ask?" I put my arm around her shoulders.

"Don't you know what everyone at camp thinks?"

"If you mean they think that since I'm a fashion designer, make-up artist, single son of Aphrodite, so I must be gay, then yeah I know."

"I don't understand you. Honestly. People talk rubbish about you behind your back and you know and all you say when I mention it is oh, yeah, I know that. It's like ti doesn't even matter," Renee said, leaning into me.

"It doesn't matter. Why were you thinking about that now?"

"Something Eros mentioned."

Fan-flipping-tastic. I thought Eros was supposed to make my life easier, not harder. Is it really too much to ask that my life have little bit of peace and quiet in it? Just a little, just one part of my life. Please?

"What did he say?"

"Something about how gay guys really need to stop checking to see if they're gay by going out with girls. I think he was angry at a minor god for stealing a minor goddess he liked."

I closed my eyes and tried not to let the swears come out of my mouth. Now would be a really bad time to piss Eros off. He could, oh so easily, shoot one of his arrows at Renee when some other guy was nearby. He could even make Renee fall in love with him if he wanted. But that wasn't going to happen so I didn't need to think about it... because the thought of Renee with any other guy, but especially some annoying brother of mine like Eros, made me angry.

"Ty-die boy, are you okay?"

"Ty-die boy?"

"Your name is Tyler, you're wearing a tie-die t-shirt and you've nearly died more times than I can count."

"You're keeping track."

"Yeah. I'm waiting for you to beat Jackson's record on near deaths. That way I can say I caused more near deaths than he's been through."

"Great. I'm glad my pain brings you so much enjoyment."

Renee dug her elbow into my side, as if to illustrate my point, and smiled up at me. Her smile was so dazzling... white teeth... red lips... tan skin... lips... freckles... lips... I leaned in to kiss her. Just as my lips should have met hers, she disappeared. She reappeared at the door to the house. I blinked hard; my ADHD had acted up again, skipping over the moment it had taken for her to leave me and walk to the house. It happened enough that I was able to move on without being overly disoriented or confused.

"It's cold out here," Renee said, but there was a malicious glint in her eye. She was never, ever going to make my life easy. In fact, she might be the reason my life ended.

"Uh-huh."

Luckily for me and my love life, Eros was not in the house when I went inside. I'm not quite sure what would've happened if he had been, but it would not have been pretty.

I followed Renee into the kitchen, wondering what she was doing. She must have already had dinner- she got cranky when she was hungry and mischievous she might be but cranky she was not. Trust me, you know it when Renee is cranky. It's not something that's easy to miss. Especially when you are (like me) her very favorite victim.

"Whatcha doin'?" I asked.

"Looking for it..."

"Should I be worried?"

"Depends."

"On...?"

Renee didn't reply. Well, crap, my life was pretty much over. I should just say good-bye. Thanks, Mom, for everything; I hate you, Dad; thanks, Ares, for fathering Renee; curse you, Ares, for fathering Renee; love ya, Casey; make sure you stay on Maya's good side, Mark, and never forget that girls are dangerous and unpredictable; please don't kill Renee for killing me, Clara, also, don't laugh; Terri-

"Why do you look like you're praying?" Renee interrupted my internal final good-byes.

"I'm saying good-bye to everyone before I leave for an appointment with Charon."

"Relax. I found what I was looking for."

"Oh, dear gods, thank you for my life. I have enjoyed it."

Renee rolled her eyes and brandished a page of paper in front of my face. She waved it around, like that would help my dyslexia.

"I can't even see what that is. Stop moving!"

"It's a letter. Written by you."

Oh, no. Please, please, please, please, please no.

"Um, what's it about?"

"All your girlfriends, dates, crushes, and all your failures in those areas. It's addressed to you mom."

"So why did you open it if it's not addressed to you?" I asked.

"Who addresses a fifty page letter to Aphrodite and leaves it in a drawer?"

"I don't know. Why don't you ask whoever wrote it?" If anyone has blackmail material in their hands and is threatening to use it there is only one course of action. Deny, deny, deny, deny. If that doesn't work, give in and try to take away the blackmail material. If it's information- like, let's say, a personal letter- then you're screwed.

"Nice try. You're nutters to think I don't know you wrote this."

"How did you even find it? It was in my room! In my dresser!" Actually, now that I thought about it, I could swear I left the letter under a heap of boxers and athletic straps and stuff like that in my bottom drawer.

"I was looking through your drawers. I needed an extra t-shirt and I was trying to find a smallish, clean one."

"You didn't happen to find that in the bottom drawer, did you?"

"Underneath your underwear? Maybe. Why?"

"Just curious," I muttered. Great. Do you know how many people complain about having an awkward phase in their relationship? You know, the stage between becoming a couple and being completely comfortable around each other. Well, yeah, I wish Renee and I were in that stage. Because, c'mon, doesn't she know where to draw the line? Seriously.

"You're blushing," Renee whispered, her fingers tracing the red stain on my cheeks.

"Duh. Renee, you went through all my stuff and you found a letter containing everything about my past I'd rather you didn't know."

"Sorry." She tugged on a blonde tuft of my hair. "Not really."

"Ugh!" I groaned and closed my eyes. I was about to walk up to my room and see what other secrets of mine she'd found, when soft skin pressed against my neck. A tingling sensation was emenating from the spot even before Renee's tongue flicked my skin.

I forced my eyelids open and leaned down the four inches to kiss her lips. After a second, I moved so I could nibble the tip of Renee's nose. She giggled.

I almost fell over in shock. "Did you just giggle?"

"I'm a girl, idiot. Every girl giggles sometimes."

"Oh, I know you're a girl." I let my hands rest on her hips then on the curve of her thighs. She put her head onto my chest and closed her eyes. Suddenly, her entire body was pressed against me. She didn't kiss me again, though. Renee seemed to have lost interest in kissing, which was weird.

I mean, a minute ago, she had been threatening me with blackmail and utter humiliation. Then, a couple seconds ago, she was kissing my neck and giggling. Now she was practically falling asleep standing up. How can girls possibly have such huge, sudden mood swings? Every single girl I know- and that is a_ lot_ of girls- has them. It never fails to confuse me.

"You should go to sleep," I said. "Before you start having hysterics or something."

"Shut up. All girls are allowed to have mood swings once every month."

I blanched. I knew what she was talking about, obviously. (The way I found out about that thing? One of my older sisters' tampons ended up spilling all over my bed. I wanted to know why she turned bright red when I asked her what the things she'd dropped were.) But that didn't mean I wanted to know. Leave girl things for girls. "Oh, okay, that's great. Bed time!"

Renee let me half carry her up the stairs and into the guest bedroom. Her armor and weapons were stacked with amazing precision in a corner of the room. Other than that, it looked the same as always. I left her to change and tuck herself in and everything.

I tugged off my clothes and shoved them into a random drawer (which was surprisingly neat, considering that Renee had gone through my dresser). Then I fell into bed. I don't remember if I actually got to brushing my teeth or just fell asleep. I probably just fell asleep.

Around midnight the creak of my door opening woke me up. I flailed in my bed, trying to grab the dagger I kept under the mattress. Where was it? I was going to be attacked by a monster in my bed in the middle of the night. I was going to-

"Tyler?"

"Renee, what are you doing?"

"I-" She was interrupted by a mammoth yawn. "-can't sleep. Plus, your guest mattress is lumpy."

"Which is why its the guest mattress, not mine or Terri's," I mumbled, as the shadow that had to be Renee came closer. I clearly wasn't awake, because I hadn't figured out what Renee was about to do.

"Move over. This bed is huge. You don't have to take up the whole thing."

Whoa. Wait one minute. She was getting in bed with me. And she was only wearing one of my old t-shirts and a pair of boy shorts. If I didn't move soon, I was going to get nailed by one of her fists. I scooted out of the way.

"Did you have a demigod dream?"

No reply.

"Renee?"

No way had she fallen asleep that fast.

Then I heard it. A small sniffling noise. I could barely see the outline of her body, so I ran my hand from her waist to her face, trying to figure where she was so I could comfort her. When my hand touched her face, it came away wet.

Instead of trying to make her talk about it, I held her and let her cry until she was asleep. Even then, I didn't mind having my arms wrapped around her.

**A/N: Review guys! It really helps with the motivation if anyone reviews (especially those of you who've been reading this for awhile).**


	15. Chapter 15

_"The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let_ _it come in." -Morrie Schwarts_

**A/N: So to all you people reading this: pardon Tyler's lack of guyness. The guys who are my closest friends are all gay, so I'm trying my best with Tyler. Please tell me what you think about his guyness!**

"Ow!" I exclaimed, as Renee's fist made contact with my ribs. "Ow, ow, ow. Renee, stop hitting me, it's me, Tyler!"

I had woken up in the middle of the night with a sudden need to pee. When I'd returned to my room from the bathroom, Renee was spread across the entire bed. I'd pulled back the covers anyway and started to get in when she attacked me. Her eyes weren't open and she obviously wasn't fully aware of what was going on, but still.

"Get. Out. Of. My. Room."

"That's kinda hard, since you're in my bed and this is my room."

"I'm what?" Renee was definitely awake now.

I was afraid to say it, because she would probably punch me. "In my bed...?"

"When the Hades did that happen?"

"When you crawled into my room and forced me to move over because the guest mattress is lumpy and you had nightmares."

"I did not," Renee said, though I wasn't sure if she was objecting to having nightmares or to coming into my room.

"Can you please let me sleep?" I mumbled. "I have to get up at an insane hour tomorrow."

"You? Get up early?"

"I have to be back in time to wake my cabin up for breakfast."

Renee was silent for a minute, just staring at the ceiling. It felt odd to me to have this conversation while lying in my bed at some late hour.

"And I'll be here all day, with Eros the nutter."

"Please don't call him a nutter. He's my brother. And a god."

"Which is probably why he's crazy. You two share the same mental tendencies."

I let that one pass. I'd rather sleep than get kicked out of my own bed because my girlfriend was mean to me.

And then, because I was so good at keeping my mouth shut, I said, "You know, you could always come back to camp."

Do you want to guess how long it took me to really regret saying that? Well, I'll clue you in. About as long as it took for Renee's fist to make contact with my poor, abused body.

I'm not sure why it surprised me that I woke up in the same way I fell asleep. I definitely should have been used to Renee's abuse, but it still caught me off guard.

My peaceful, wonderful sleep- which for once was without dreams- was interrupted by pain. It traveled sporadically across my legs, arms, and face. I was being pinched. Viciously.

I lifted my pillow from beneath my head and whacked at whoever was causing the discomfort. It took several seconds for my pillow to make contact with anything other than air and as soon as it did, it was snatched away. Not only had I been awoken, I'd lost my pillow.

Cold air slammed into my body and I shivered, reaching to pull up my blankets. They weren't there. Who was purposely trying to ruin my life? The person in question (Renee of course, who else would torture me in such a cruel way?) sat on my stomach. Every bit of air in my lungs whooshed out. My eyes now open, I looked up to see her, smiling down at me.

"Good morning, pretty boy."

I wanted to say, _you know, I have an alarm clock for a reason. _But I couldn't. It might have been because Renee was sitting on me and I couldn't breathe. I made a weak attempt at shoving her off me and, much to my surprise, she slid off the bed and over to the dresser. Then she proceeded to open my dresser. Um, hello, privacy invasion much?

But it was rather hard to stop her from doing it, since I couldn't even breathe let alone speak or fight. Not that I could fight normally either.

I stumbled into the bathroom. When I came back, I found my room an absolute mess. Renee had two of my t-shirts in her hands and was ripping them into small strips. My immediate reaction wasn't asking her what she was doing or why me room was now a mess, it was me saying, "You enjoyed sleeping with me so much you decided that my room now belongs to you as well?"

What is wrong with me? What the Hades is wrong with me? When I am around children of Ares my mouth does not stay shut.

_Your mouth never listens to you. Ever. _Some part of me gloated at the rest of me.

Renee didn't respond to what I had said, though, so I guess the damage wasn't too bad. Or it was extremely bad and she was now ignoring me. Either one. But, by the time I was downstairs trying to find some paperwork for the Aphrodite cabin I needed to give to Chiron, Renee seemed to have forgiven me.

"Are you coming back or is Chiron making you stay at camp?"

"I don't think I'm going to be able to get away again for another couple days. I don't know if Eros is coming back, but he might. Sometimes, when he has nothing better to do, he likes to pretend to be a mortal, just so he can mess with the humans."

"You are leaving me here with him?"

"Uh, yeah."

"I'd rather be left alone with any other of your siblings."

"Why? The girls would all try to give you make-overs and stuff."

"But they don't have godly powers."

"Oh, yeah..." I paused. "You could always come back to camp."

"See, Tyler, that's what I like about you. Always joking around." Renee's voice had a sarcastic edge.

I figured I better leave before I got mangled. "Bye, Renee." She didn't say good-bye, just stomped upstairs. Or as close to stomping as she could get, since her feet barely made any noise on the carpeted floors. "Love ya too, sweetheart!" I shouted up the stairs after her. Again, probably not my wisest decision. But, you know, it's me.

It took five minutes to get back to camp. But that was at a full out sprint because, Hades, I was way late to wake my cabin up. Breakfast was supposed to start in twenty minutes, which seems like plenty of time until you consider the challenge of waking up a cabin full of vain teenage girls. Granted, only some of my sisters were truly vain, but they were all still teenage girls with a lot of make-up products.

As I passed the Ares cabin I heard Clarisse's bellow of, "Campers, UP!" At the Hermes cabin, the Stoll brothers were giggling outside their door, waiting for their wake-up prank to detonate. The Hecate cabin was shaking like it was in it's own mini-earthquake. All the other cabins had counselors waking people up in the normal way, telling them to get out of bed. Except the Hypnos cabin. The children of Hypnos rarely woke at all, let alone early in the morning.

I entered the Aphrodite cabin. Lucky for me, I was used to the Barbie doll playhouse look of every thing: the perfect pink bedspreads, the pink trim and white walls, the pink dressers filled with make-up. I scanned the area to make sure that nothing stood out as overwhelmingly messy. My family tended to like everything to be neat before they went to bed- everything looks prettier when it's organized properly- so it wasn't too bad. Mike's basketball and frisbee were sitting on the middle of the floor, lost among all the girliness, but those were easy to put away.

Now, try imagining what tactic works best to wake up the people in my cabin. No, it's not going around and saying quietly, "time to get up, you need to get up now, it's breakfast time." Yelling at the top of my lungs "GET UP!" doesn't work either. Pinching each of them is the worst solution possible- they all seek revenge and their revenges mix together to create a huge mess... not that I've tried it or anything. Waiting for them to wake up on their own obviously doesn't work. No, the best method I've found so far is to play some horrible music (music from the sixties usually works) really loudly. It only takes a few minutes for everyone to wake up. Plus, I don't turn the music off until everyone is awake, so the first people up do all the work waking people up for me because they don't want to tolerate the terrible noise.

"Turn that terrible noise off now!" Casey demanded as soon as I pressed the play button.

I half-smirked. "You know the rules, Casey. Everyone has to be up and getting dressed before the music goes off."

Casey groaned and pulled the sheets over her head, muttering something that sounded like, "Where's Renee when you need her to kill Tyler?"

I waited for the rest of my cabin to surface from sleep, having long ago desensitized myself to the sound of the music. Mike was next to wake up, like usual.

"Really, man, couldn't you at least play something with a nice rhythm?" Mike pulled himself out of bed with about ten times the ease I did when I was awoken in the morning. Life was so not fair.

"Sorry, but I'm trying to get the girls awake."

"Tunnatoff," Courtney grumbled.

Really. I didn't know why any of them bothered to even try. I'd been doing this forever and not once had I turned off the music before everyone was up. They should really learn to just get up on time. Which was what happened, after a little wait. Chaos struck as soon as the majority of the girls were awake. Everyone rushed to get the good showers and then rushed to get the good vanities with big mirrors that didn't warp your face and a nearby electric outlet. Mike, Casey, and I sat on my bed, which had at some point become the official couch and hang out spot in the cabin. Casey touched up her lips with a tiny bit of gloss and put her hair up in a braided bun. Since her hair was permanently curly and poofy, it was always incredible to see what she could do with a straightener in hand.

When everyone had nearly finished and it was time for breakfast, Casey gave Mike a not-so-subtle elbow in the ribs. Mike didn't even wince. (Why oh why does he have a higher pain tolerance when I'm the one with the abusive girlfriend? So not fair.) "Dude, where'd you go last night?"

"Back to the house to close it up. Why, did you guys have any problems here?"

Neither one of them said anything so the answer was no. Also, neither of them believed me. Argh. Life is so friggin' complicated. What on earth was I supposed to do about seeing Renee? She would kill me if I left her there alone and she would kill me if Casey or Clara found out.

"It just seems like you're never here anymore," Casey whispered, her eyes doe-big and sad. Man, she was the greatest actress in the world. It was lucky for me I knew her too well. She was just curious and determined, not upset.

"I'm sorry, I'll try harder, darling, it's just so difficult for me to be here." I couldn't help the polished accent that crept into my voice. Casey pouted at me, knowing I hadn't fallen for her acting.

Breakfast was the usual event. Loud, smelly since most people didn't bother with showers until they were actually awake, and long. Well, it doesn't always feel like it's taking forever. But with Casey interrogating me, it was a whole other story. I was trying not to lie too too much, because she might be able to tell I was lying, so my head hurt from thinking up ways to answer her questions without lying and without telling her what she wanted to know. By the time our breakfast was interrupted, she was beyond frustrated. She was furious. Her black cheeks had a red hint to them and her eyebrows were scrunched together and looking like they would never again separate I was just about to make an excuse about having to go to the bathroom and escape when something odd happened.

The booming noise of too many people talking too close together got quieter then stopped. All faces were pointed towards a spot behind me. I turned around, hoping I wouldn't find a mega-monster waiting to kill me. Our table was at the edge of the pavilion and I was sitting with my back to the woods so it was possible.

Instead of seeing a hellhound or snake-person or mutant thing, I saw a human shadow. Not in enough light for anyone to be able to see anything other than it was was human. It stepped forward once then twice and I gulped. I recognized the mahogany hair and the blood red t-shirt and the ripped up jeans and the gun holster. For once she'd listened to me.

Renee had returned.

**A/N: What do you think of Tyler? Review! FIRST PERSON TO REVIEW GETS TO CHOOSE ONE THING THAT HAPPENS BETWEEN NOW AND THE END OF THE STORY. Don't say what you want in the review though!**


	16. Chapter 16

"_We love the things we love for what they are." -Robert Frost_

**A/N: Hey. Another update. **

The first noise to hit my ears was the Ares cabin. They started cheering and whooping and hollering. Sherman jumped out of his seat and ran over to his little sister. In a move completely out of character for him, he hugged his sister in front of everyone. When he stepped back, he gave her a playful shove, which she returned. They grappled for a couple seconds, until Renee had her hands around his neck in a death grip. They smiled and separated, Sherman saying something before they went and sat down.

On the way to the Ares table, Renee glanced at me for half a second. I smirked at her; I told her she should come back and I was right. Ha. She rolled her eyes as she looked away. Her family welcomed her as she sat down, most of them punching her shoulder as a greeting. Chiron walked over to the table and both Renee and Clarisse followed him to the Big House.

I looked down at my plate, giving my Lucky Charms a poke with my spoon. I love Lucky Charms and I was starving five seconds ago. Now, I didn't want anything to do with my cereal.

"Um, Tyler?" Mike sounded hesitant and scared. I looked up at him.

"Yeah?"

Mike nodded his head towards Casey. My stomach rolled as I registered the warning of impending doom in Mike's eyes. When I turned to Casey I almost ran away. Her eyes were narrowed and focused, her whole body leaned towards me, and her lips were turned maliciously upwards. Oh, no. Oh no, oh no, oh no.

"Something I can, uh, do for you?" My mouth was dry.

Wait. Why was my mouth dry? Why was I so nervous at the thought of everyone knowing Renee and I were going out? It wasn't a big deal. Just everyone who I didn't want prying into my relationship having the perfect excuse to pry. Not a big deal at all. Riiiiight.

Casey didn't say anything, too busy staring at me. Time to run as fast and far as possible.

After breakfast, Mike, Casey, Clara, Maya, and I stood in the Pavilion talking about the possibility of throwing a party for Clara's sweet sixteen. Once we had reached an impasse- Clara was pretty much refusing to agree to any sort of party we could think up- Maya and Mike decided to go swimming.

"Casey, do you want to go for a swim with us?" Maya asked my little sister.

"No, thanks. I've got stuff to do." Casey said, looking at me with an unmistakable gleam in her eyes.

"Oh, man." I muttered.

"Clara?" Maya asked.

"I'm with Casey. I've got something I need to do." Clara was looking at me too.

"Great. Somebody create a disaster, now." I muttered, wishing that there was something, anything that would make it impossible for me to talk to Clara and Casey.

Mike shared a look with me and said, "Come swimming with us."

"No way, Tyler's busy right now," Clara said.

"I don't remember having anything to be busy with right now and I want to go swimming."

"Come on, sweetie, I'll show you what you need to do," Clara said in a honeyed voice. If you didn't know her, you'd think she was seducing me. Ha. No, she was threatening me.

"Where have you been lately?" Casey asked me, her hands on her hips.

"Here or at my house." I said in a _um, duh_ tone of voice.

Clara snorted, looking like she didn't believe me.

Casey just continued her questions, "You wouldn't happen to be spending an unusual amount of time with Renee, would you?"

My super intelligent and non-suspicious response to that was nearly choking and then shouting, "No!"

I guess Tyche liked me for a few seconds because Casey believed me.

"Hmmm..." Casey mused, thinking hard.

Casey then threw questions like "what were you doing two hours ago?", "where were you yesterday at lunchtime?", and "why weren't you there when the Eros kids nearly got killed by Clarisse?". It was really obvious that she was trying to get me caught in my lie.

I made sure to answer the questions properly and Casey seemed to give up after ten minutes of one syllable answers. I say seemed because Casey never really gives up. She just pretends that she has and then tries again once you've let your guard down. Unfortunately, I found this out through trial and error. Mostly error. I wasn't surprised when Casey glared at me and stomped away, annoyed that I hadn't confessed or given in to her questioning.

I was surprised when Clara said, as soon as Casey was out of earshot, "I don't want to know what you do with Renee. Really."

I was surprised she'd figured it out even though Casey didn't and Casey saw me looking at Renee. Then again, Clara probably saw me looking at Renee too. I was so surprised that, instead of replying, I fell over, managing to trip Clara on my way down so that she ended up on top of me, her hands flaming like they always did when she was taken by surprise.

Forget what I said about Tyche liking me. Tyche, the Fates, Nike, all of them hated me right then. Because not only was I in the most awkward position possible (underneath my best friend with my hands pinned under me so I couldn't get up), but I was also on fire.

Just as I was thinking that this could not get worse (something you should never, ever think unless you _want_ things to get worse), Chiron, Clarisse, and (horror of all horrors) Renee walked by. Except they didn't keep going, they stopped in front of us. Percy walked by from the opposite direction a minute later. He stopped, his mouth opening slightly, when he saw the situation.

Chiron's eyebrows were raised, Percy looked like he had constipation (meaning he was using his super awesome powers to get some water to put out the spreading fire), Clarisse was sniggering, and Renee was... smirking?

"Don't do that, Tyler!" Clara told me once we were both soaked and getting back to our feet.

"What?" I asked, "You think I wanted to fall, trip you, and then have you light me up like the bonfire?"

"You could at least watch where you're going," Clara muttered as she shook out her soaked hair.

"Thanks, man," I said to Percy, "becoming Tyler-style barbecue was not on my list of to-do things today."

Percy just nodded his head and kept walking. I didn't look at Chiron, because I really didn't want to see his face. Same with Renee and Clarisse.

**A/N: The first person to review gets to choose an extra they want included at the end. Like something I made a reference to or something they're curious about or whatever. **


	17. Chapter 17

"_If you judge people, you have no time to love them." -Mother Teresa_

Life went back to normal. Not normal normal, but Camp Half-Blood normal. Meaning, I was still the fashion consultant for my cabin, Casey was still bugging me about figuring out what was going on with me disappearing to my house, though I had stopped leaving since Renee returned. Every time I let my guard slip and watched Renee too long in public, Clara would smirk at me or raise her eyebrows or make a cryptic comment. Renee and I didn't get any time alone, in private, and I really missed her. It had been a full week since I'd last kissed Renee and I was distracted whenever she was anywhere near me, something Clara always noticed and subtly remarked upon. All these things were the reasons I made the mistakes I did.

The first thing that happened to cause it was not my fault. I was in the amphitheater, trying to take a nap in the only quiet and deserted place I could find. I don't know how she knew I was there, but Renee arrived in the amphitheater a few minutes after I did. I kept my eyes closed because I thought it was Casey come to bug me once again. I knew it wasn't any of the other girls because there wasn't the clickety-click of heels.

Then a light fingertip caressed my cheek. "Wake up, sleepyhead."

Renee! Oh, gods, had I missed her.

"Aren't you supposed to being doing something?" I asked.

She lay down next to me, curling her body so it cupped mine. "And you aren't?"

"I'm taking a nap break."

"I'm not tired," She hinted, reaching out to wrap her arms around me. I didn't feel so tired anymore either. I carefully moved so we were face to face. I brought my lips to her ear.

"And if someone sees us?" I whispered to her, enjoying the feeling of her shivering underneath me.

"I don't care anymore. It hurts too much to pretend."

"Where does it hurt?" I asked, knowing it was the same ache deep in my belly I felt. Renee smiled at me. Her fingers rested on my face, needing to be reassured that I was here and real.

"Stomach," she whispered. I slipped my hand underneath her shirt and onto the taut skin of her stomach. I ran my fingers over the delicate skin and reached down to press a kiss to her stomach.

"Better?"

Her reply was to tuck her head into my neck and nuzzle the sensitive skin there. I let my hand rest on the butt of her jeans. We didn't move much for a long while, just laying there together, touching and whispering. I felt more relaxed than I had in days and days and days. The soothing effect she had on my nerves was unbelievable.

After no more than half an hour, Renee sat up. "I should leave soon, before someone sees." I didn't want her to leave. Then I'd be alone again and she'd once more be available for all the boys in the camp to stare at. Unfair.

She sat for a minute or two while I watched her, then stood up. I got to my feet too. I wasn't letting her leave here without at least a kiss. A proper one. I put my hand on her face and pressed my lips to hers. I meant it to be short and sweet, but I forgot. I held her in careful hands, keeping her close to me. The feeling of what we had together was more powerful than I would ever have guessed. It spellbound both of us, making us forget our surroundings.

I had moved my hands to Renee's waist and was about to pull her deeper into the kiss when I noticed something strange. A faint sound came from behind me, a sound which trilled and rippled. Giggles. It took several minutes for me to realize the significance of the giggles. Renee and I were alone in the amphitheater. No one else should have been there to make the giggling. I pulled away and turned around, panic making me unsure of what I'd heard.

It was the two people I wanted to find us the least. Terri and Sophie were watching wide-eyed and giggling. When I met their eyes, they squealed and ran away. Of all my sisters they were the ones who loved to gossip the most. They were the ones who made the rest of us look like complete introverts. They were the ones who went out of their way to learn anything dishy about anyone. Their mouths never stayed shut for more than half a second. And they wouldn't understand this was a secret they shouldn't blab about.

It was going to be Silena and Charlie all over again. No. No. No. No. Anyone else. Anyone. Please. Why couldn't it have been anyone else to find us? I didn't care who. Not them. Not those two.

"Tyler, it's okay. It's not the end of the world," Renee said, though she sounded anxious.

"You don't know my sisters. The entire camp will be made well aware before dinner is over."

"Dinner is in half an hour."

"Exactly."

"People were bound to find out." Her up-beat tone was forced.

"It had to be them, didn't it? It couldn't have been someone who would understand the word secret means do not tell anyone. No, that would have been far too easy. Figures."

"No one will call you gay anymore. You'll have proved you're not."

"I've had girlfriends before. Never proved anything then."

"You haven't had any demigod girlfriends before."

And of course Renee was an expert on my past love life because she'd read all about it in the letter no one was supposed to read.

"They'll just say I'm bi."

"Would you please stop being so negative? You're ruining my day."

"Sorry. I just... I don't know." I did know. I just didn't want to say it. "I've taken so much crap for so long because I'm a son of Aphrodite and a fashion designer and a make-up artist. I don't want to make you go through it."

"People give me any kind of crap and I'm going to put them in the infirmary for weeks." She was silent for a while. "When I picked on you during fighting, was I part of the crap you had to deal with?"

"Nah."

"But I was picking on you, same as everyone else."

"Renee, you aren't the only one who has done it before. It's normal." She raised her eyebrows and I continued to explain. "Clarisse used to torture Chris in much the same way. Of course, Chris was much better at fighting back. I've never truly minded you picking on me. In some ways, it was the easiest way for both of us to burn off steam. I'm used to it. Plus, it's a part of you. No shame in having amazing fighting skills."

Renee snorted. "But there is plenty of shame in using those skills to intentionally hurt weaker people."

"Now you're just insulting me."

"You are weak. It's the truth, not an insult." She was smiling at me, her eyes twinkling.

"Let's stay here for as long as possible," I suggested.

"Nuh-huh. It's time to face the fireworks."

"Face the fireworks?"

"Stop being picky. It works."

"Meaning you can't remember a better way to say it."

"Shut it."

"Or?"

"I'll start picking on you again."

The aftereffects were bad, but not horrific. Renee and I decided- meaning I said what I thought and she told me we were going to do the opposite- what to do about the situation. I wanted to keep on pretending: it seemed to me that the worst possible idea would be to add fuel for the gossip. I mean, when you want a fire to go out, you don't toss gasoline all over it. But, no, Renee thought we should play it up. I never thought I'd see the day Renee encouraged my sisters.

"Everyone is staring," I said through my teeth.

"What is the problem? You look panicked. Haven't your years of acting like you are cool added up to anything at all?"

"Renee, usually when people see us together, you're beating me up, not holding my hand."

It was true. Every single person who caught sight of the two of us together, turned and gaped. There were plenty of camp romances, but most of them were expected by the rest of the campers. Everyone had seen Beckendorf and Silena coming for a really long time (when a daughter of Aphrodite develops an obsession with the forges and a son of Hephaestus spends a lot of his time watching the Aprhodite cabin, people draw a conclusion). Towards the start of their relationship, Percy and Annabeth were really obvious. Even Katie and Travis's love-hate relationship was well-known because it was hilarious to watch Katie's face when Travis pranked her. Ahh, good times. But us? We'd kept our relationship a pretty good secret. I was almost a hundred percent sure no one had known about Renee and me before this not-so-minor incident. Clara doesn't count.

The eyes of the entire camp on my back made me pretty nervous to say the least. Why did they have to stare so much? Didn't anyone have manners? This was seriously getting under my skin.

"Eeeeeeekkkkkk!" The squeal-scream-thing coming from Mel's mouth was so loud I nearly went deaf. "Oh my gods! Ohmygods, ohmygods! Oh. My. Gods. Ha! I knew it, I knew it! Told ya so! I. Knew. It!"

So, about the one hundred percent sure thing. Well, you see, I might have underestimated my sisters. Mel is a total airhead sometimes, but she's really smart when you give her the chance. She just doesn't show off her smarts. I should have remembered how good she is at solving puzzles and riddles.

"You lied to me, Tyler?" Casey asked, cool as a cucumber. She stood with her hands on her hips looking up at me. Despite both her and Melanie being about a foot away from Renee, neither of them acknowledged her. Mel wasn't acknowledging me either, just freaking out, so that was okay.

"About what?" Keep it cool, calm, collected. Fake it till you make it.

"I seem to remember specifically asking you if you were spending a lot of time with Renee. And your answer was no."

Oopsies. "Sorry, Case."

"Let me think, what's the Tyler number one rule about relationships? Oh, yes, honesty." I winced, but she just kept talking. When Casey gets mad, she gets _mad_. "And the Tyler number two rule about relationships? Trust."

"I'm really sorry, Casey. I promise I can explain."

"Feel free to do so."

"Later."

"Hey, Renee," Casey said.

"Hello, Casey."

"How's he been treating you? Please tell me you've thwacked him around."

I wanted to run away from embarrassment. This was exactly why I didn't want my family to know. They would all start acting way too familiar with Renee. Familiar can be really bad. Trust me.

"Quite a bit, when he deserves it."

"Which is all the time," Casey muttered.

Melanie cut in. "Tyler, how long have you been keeping this a secret? Do you know what a- a- a development this is? Honestly, Renee, I wasn't sure we'd ever get him away from his flings with mortal girls. It was sad. He didn't even follow Mom's rule! Every time, it was-"

"It hasn't been very long, Mel. How did you know?" I had to stop her from talking before she got way off topic. The way Mel describes my previous relationships, let's just say, it isn't flattering to me or the girls involved. I'd once made the mistake of introducing one of those mortal girls to Mel and she'd rattled on forever about my past girlfriends. That was the last time that particular girl talked to me.

"It was so obvious. Anyone could see it! The way Renee used to beat you up all the time. How you actually went to fighting classes when none of the rest of us bother to participate. It's a little like Clarisse and Chris, isn't it? And you know how sweet they are together."

I pulled Renee away. It was hard work, because Renee was incapacitated with laughter. It couldn't have been the things Mel had said- those were about as funny as being beat up- so it must have been my expression.

I tried to avoid my family for the rest of the afternoon, hoping not to have to endure a repeat. There wasn't just my family to contend with, though. Even compared to my sisters, Renee's family was crazy intimidating. When Renee and I were walking back to the cabins, we ran into Renee's family on their way back to their cabin from wrestling. I swear my clothes started smoking because of all the glares aimed at me. Apparently, I was not a suitable option for Renee.

"Renee," Clarisse said.

"Hello, Clarisse," Renee replied. I tried not to wince at the look I was receiving from Sherman. Though Renee had never said anything about him, I guessed that the two were really close. Either that or Sherman just did not like me.

"It's time to get ready for dinner," Clarisse said without even acknowledging me.

"I'll be there in a minute."

Clarisse, Sherman, and all the others left. I let out a long exhale. "Do you have any idea how terrifying it is to be glared at by a two hundred pound wrestler?"

"Tyler, none of them are as bad as you like to pretend."

"Even Sherman?"

"He's just... just..."

"Crazy about his sister so he hates any guy who survives long enough to date her," I suggested. Renee gave me a look; she was both amused and not amused by my comment. "What?"

"First of all, Sherman is my brother. He has an automatic right to be protective. Second, he doesn't choose who I do or do not date. Third, if he truly hated you, you would be dead or in the middle of a deadly war."

"Comforting," I muttered. There was still the lurking suspicion that this was not the last time I would be having troubles with Renee's brothers. In fact, I was willing to bet my troubles were just beginning.


	18. Chapter 18

_"Know that love is truly timeless." -Mary M. Ricksen_

There was a counselor's meeting after dinner. We had to go and listen to Chiron talking about our responsibilities for our campers and not letting them run away and not running away ourselves. He was only making it one hundred percent obvious his speech was aimed at Clarisse and me. After the meeting was over I walked back to my cabin. On the way, I spaced out and when I paid attention to my surroundings again, Clarisse was blocking my path.

"I need to talk with you," Clarisse said with an intimidating glare.

I was intimidated.

"Is that really necessary?" I asked and regretted it.

"Yes," Clarisse growled as she dragged me- literally dragged me- out of view of the cabins and bathrooms. My guess was she didn't want Renee to see us now.

"How can I help you?" I smiled, trying not to grimace with the pain that her rough treatment of me had caused.

"Never, ever," Clarisse pointed_ Maimer_ at my chest, "hurt my sister. Or I will kill you."

Maybe Renee's family loved her after all.

"I don't think it's possible for me to hurt _Renee._"

"You make her cry and you will never rest in peace again."

"Renee cries enough without me adding to her tears," I said and regretted it. Why couldn't I keep my mouth shut?

Clarisse blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. "Renee cries?" She asked.

I didn't reply. Instead, my mouth decided to change the subject. "Chris loves you." Aaaah! Why, why, why had that just come out of my mouth? I was not planning on saying that. My mouth was betraying me! Again and again and again. Way to go, Tyler. You just made a really bad situation a whole lot worse.

Clarisse stood there and stared at me. And stared. And stared. Then she blinked. "It doesn't change anything," she sneered at me and stomped away. Poking me with _Maimer_ before she left, of course. I got off easy, though. I was still alive.

The next morning, on my way to the bathrooms, Renee's brothers felt it necessary to inspire me with some respect for the Ares cabin. In other words, they waited until Renee left to beat me up. They weren't trying to really hurt me, just impress upon me what would happen if I damaged the reputation of their cabin or their sister. Still, being pinned to the floor by a couple bodybuilders wasn't exactly comfy.

"Got it, lover boy?" Sherman sneered. I'd seen him happy and light-hearted around Renee, but he wasn't showing me that side of him.

"So, basically, you're saying you don't want me touching your sister?" Mostly I repeated this out of wonder- who knew the Ares boys could be decent brothers to their sisters?

"No, we're saying if you do something to her, we'll beat you up." Mark was almost being friendly, which was extremely odd considering he was keeping me from getting off the floor.

I rolled my eyes. "Great, glad you guys felt you had a duty to Renee, but Clarisse beat you to it. Only she was more friendly."

"What Clarisse says don't count."

"She'll love to hear that."

"Well, she won't be hearing it from you, will she?" was the threatening reply.

"Course not. But why doesn't it count?"

"This is between us guys. Clarisse is a girl; she doesn't understand."

I thought I understood what they were getting at. They gave any of their sisters' serious boyfriends a good scare to keep them wary and respectful. Also, they were making sure no one was going to dishonor them. I would've bet several golden drachma- which, no matter what you hear from other people, are really hard to come by- that Chris had received the same treatment at the beginning of his relationship with Clarisse. More and more I was being to think we could be friends, with all we had in common. Course, he was one of the guys who really, truly believed I was gay because I was a son of Aphrodite. So, maybe not.

"Fine. Just get it over with then."

They grinned. One of them, I couldn't see who, said, "Fair fight. You against Mark."

"Oh, yeah, that's so fair."

"You scared?" Sherman asked.

"No, just worried that Mark'll be hurt." I was being sarcastic, of course. I had no chance against Mark. Mark's a fighter. I'm, well, not.

It started out badly. Mark punched me in the belly and my fist missed its target so wide I almost hit one of the boys surrounding us. It got worse, with me losing any skill or chance I might have had at the beginning and Mark just warming up. Mark wasn't really hurting me though, not bad enough that anyone would be able to tell anything was different from usual.

Mark was about to punch me again when I tripped and my face landed on his moving fist. There was a soft, sickening snap and warm liquid poured down over my lips.

Mark pulled back, quickly setting me on the ground. "Oh, crap." Actually, he said something else... "Renee is going to kill me. Crap, crap, crap." He sounded scared of Renee. Really scared. Certainly more scared than I'd ever been.

"Suck it up, it'll be fine." Sherman said, though he didn't sound too sure. He was the only one who didn't look terrified. He just had a gods-help-us-all expression on his face.

"You wanna take the blame, Sherman? Renee will flip when she finds out we broke his nose."

"Just call an Apollo kid. Gods, Mark. Renee never has to know."

"Like she'll believe our lies. The girl has a lie detector implanted in her brain."

"Then go get an Apollo healer and you won't have to lie to her." Sherman looked exhasperated with his brother.

"Would anyone like to listen to my input?" It was a silly question. The reply was a whole lot of glares. "Because I really don't think it's necessary to get a healer. My nose'll stop bleeding in a couple minutes. Renee knows I get hurt a lot so I'll just tell her-"

"Go get a healer," Sherman ordered and shoved one of the guys out the bathroom door. They all watched me as I waited. Ten minutes later, there was a scuffling noise outside the door.

"Get your hands off me! I don't care what you want, you pig, get away from me now!" Oh, no. I recognized her voice. Why hadn't the Ares guy brought one of the male healers? Why couldn't he have brought someone besides my brother's girlfriend? "I am not going in the boy's toilets. It's nasty in there."

"C'mon, sweetheart, you're going to help us out a little."

"What on earth kind of help do you need in the boy's bathroom? I have a boyfriend and he's a lot better looking than you. Oh, gods, what is that smell?" Maya came into view, wiggling around as she tried to escape the firm grasp on her arms. "Tyler?!"

"Hey, May, what's up?"

"How mad do you think Mike would get if I told him I was being manhandled by a brute so I could heal your nose?"

"He'd be pissed. So I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell him. Mike is my favorite brother."

"Let go of me! I can't heal him if you're trying to feel me up." Maya accompanied her statement by a nice kick to the groin. I winced in sympathy. I'd never seen her so fiery and riled up. Usually she was mellow. Maya came over to me and gently touched my nose. I winced. "Sorry, but this isn't going to be fixed all the way. I can heal the nose, but there will be bruising around your eyes and your skin will be really sensitive."

"How obvious are the bruises gonna be?" Someone demanded.

"Pretty damn obvious. Serves you right, too. Do you know how badly you could have hurt him? Tyler's about as able to protect himself as a bunny is." Maya was on a roll. I hoped she would calm down before she next saw Mike. I was not keen on getting into a fight with him. He would beat me up too. I was glad she was yelling at them. I was not glad about what she was saying. She kept insulting me. Comparing me to a bunny was the least of it.

It was a full ten minutes before she calmed down. Slightly.

"Thanks for your help," Sherman hinted.

"You are not welcome. I should complain to-"

"No one. You're not going to tell anyone." Sherman accompanied the threat with a menacing roll of his shoulders and crack of his knuckles.

"You wouldn't hurt me."

Sherman smirked. "But Aphrodite boys are fun to pick on. They have so little fight in them." Maya crossed her arms, but her face paled. We both understood what Sherman was saying. And Renee thought he wasn't a bad guy. Hah. Wonder if she'd change her opinion if she found out about this whole incident. Maya didn't argue anymore. She patted my shoulder and left, holding her nose to show what she thought of our bathrooms.

"You guys go before Clarisse starts class without you." Sherman was saying when I turned back to the group of guys.

"Again," Someone complained. "She never waits for us."

Everyone left, a few of them stepping on my toes on the way out, except Sherman. He glared at me and clenched his fists.

"You're not gonna punch me again, are you? Because I don't think it will help with the whole not-letting-Renee-know thing." Of course I couldn't keep my mouth shut. Of course not.

Sherman laughed, much to my surprise. "Nah, just thought we should have a little chat. Man to man." His smile did not reassure me. At all.

"Really? Cause I was just thinking I should go get my cabin organized for, ummm, inspection."

"Renee is way too good for you. I don't know why she cares about you. But you have better watch your step."

"Did you give Chris this much trouble? Because, honestly, he doesn't seem nearly as bothered by you guys." And there went my mouth again, blabbing away without my permission.

"Chris is different. Clarisse can take care of herself."

"And Renee can't?" Renee could so take care of herself. This is coming from a guy who has personal, painful experience.

Sherman's eyes flashed with some emotion I couldn't read. "Renee is fragile. Her mom effed her up."

"It wasn't just her mom," I muttered, my mouth still continuing to ignore my internal shouts at it to shut the Hades up.

"Yeah, I know. The guy who broke her heart. B*****d."

I bleeped out the swear word. I totally agreed with him, but still, there might be little children listening. Which is actually a scary prospect. Little children listening to my life. Poor little children will have nightmares.

"You, uh, know about that?"

Sherman squint-glared at me. "Renee's my sister."

"Terri's my sister." I thought I'd just add that in there to be helpful. I thought I picked up on a few crush-type vibes when I said Terri's name. I must have been wrong. Yep, definitely, mistaken.

"The point of all this," Sherman said, having realized how off-track we'd gotten, "is you are not to upset her in any way, shape, or form. If something happens to her, you will tell me. Right away."

"Not anyone else? Just you?"

Sherman nodded and left before I had time to tell him being a boyfriend and being a spy were polar opposites which should not, not, not be combined. Somehow, I doubt he would have listened to me.


	19. Chapter 19

"_You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams." -Dr. Seuss _

There was a knock on the door of the cabin. Which, in and of itself, was weird. No one knocked on the door. Friends just walked in. Non-friends didn't come to our cabin. Renee stayed far, far away. Actually, Maya did knock, but she knocked quietly and gently, not loud and demanding. I shoved off my bed and opened the door. A very smug, smirking Sherman was on the other side. His hair was all standing up in casual disarray and he was wearing nice-ish clothes. I had a horrible idea of where this was going.

"Hi, Tyler," His voice was almost choking on the smugness, "is Terri there?"

About when he said this, I heard a shriek coming from behind me. "Tyler! Do not answer the door!"

"Too late!" I yelled at my twin.

"What have I told you about never answering the door? You embarrass me ever single time." Terri's voice was still coming from the back of the cabin, probably the bathroom.

"And when it's my girlfriend at the door?" I demanded. Several of my girlfriends had been bored to death by Terri. I preferred to pick them up so I didn't have to deal with her.

"Your girlfriends like me better than they like you," Terri yelled across the noise of our siblings.

"Tell that to Renee," I said, turning away from Sherman to see Terri emerging from the bathroom wearing a non-sleazy outfit. She had to really like Sherman. She was wearing white shorts, a spaghetti strap, and heels, with her hair down. Not quite perfect enough.

"Can you please wait here a minute?" I asked Sherman. I left the door and went to Terri. "First of all, sweetie, the hair should not be down. Not with that neckline." I was always happy to give her advice. Well, not quite true. Whenever she wore clothes which didn't scream slut, I was happy to give her advice. Sometimes she even returned the favor.

"Really?" Terri asked. Then, as she contemplated her reflection, "Yeah, you're right."

I grabbed her hair, swirling it around a bit to give it more body and then twisted it up onto her head. I pulled out a few strands to frame her face. "The make-up is great. But the high heels are too much and the shirt needs a jacket." She grabbed a jean jacket and held it up in front of my face. I nodded and opened her closet, grabbing a pair of heels from the back of the pile. They were work boots, except made into heels. A stroke of genius, really. She pulled them on quickly and I hugged her.

Somehow, during this, Sherman had come into the cabin instead of waiting outside like he was supposed to. He was watching us with raised eyebrows. But we weren't done. Well, I was done perfecting Terri, but Terri wasn't done perfecting me.

"Shirt off, now," She ordered me.

"Why? I like this shirt." It was an old Beetles shirt my dad had given me. You know, back when I still saw him once and awhile.

Terri said, "Dad must have given it to you solely because it makes you look like a stoner. Like father, like son."

I rolled my eyes. Terri loved to attack our dad. "Aah, but Dad never invited me to share. I just _look_ like a stoner when it gets the girls."

"Renee knows you are a weak, pathetic thing" -aaaand here she is, ladies and gentlemen, my loving twin sister!- "so. Take. The. Shirt. Off." I could see Sherman's expression. He looked like he was enjoying the entertainment while he waited for his date. Reluctantly, I took off my shirt. Making Terri wait for you is always a bad idea. She tossed a square of fabric and I put it on, trying not to gag. The only reason she was making me wear this was she bought it for me. She scanned my appearance then nodded.

"Do not brush your hair."

"What would you do if I told you not to brush your hair?"

"You, Tyler, my dearest twin brother, would die."

"I love that every woman I know wants me dead. It's just so comforting." I muttered to nobody.

Terri and I met gazes, both shrugged, and I said, "Have fun."

"But not too much fun," Terri said.

"No drugs," we said together. This was a rule we always reminded each other of. Our dad had been a drug addict his entire life; his mom was a druggie; her dad was a druggie... We had a little bit of a genetic history of drug addictions.

We smiled. Sometimes, it was obvious we were twins. Like when we were both headed out to spend time with our children of Ares dates. Though I really, really hoped Sherman and Terri would not have anything more than a passing relationship. I did not need more of Sherman in my life.

"Take care of my sister, Sherman," I said as I slid sunglasses onto my face.

"Take care of my sister, Tyler," Sherman replied.

I snorted. "More likely, she'll beat me up because I haven't had enough fighting practice lately."

Sherman grinned at me. "That's just what I'm hoping for."

"Yeah, but I'm hoping for something else."

Sherman took my sister's hand and the two of them left. I sat down on my bed and closed my eyes, thinking really hard. Sherman liked my sister. A lot. He was completely nervous about dating her, which was not his style. It was hard to tell how much of his feelings were physical since he was such a physical person. Terri was easier to pin down. Currently, Sherman was just a hot guy who she could wrap around her pinky finger. But Terri's feelings changed every two seconds. Ughh.

"It's not the end of the world if Terri likes Sherman."

"Sherman wants to kill me because I love Renee." Oh, crap. I just said I love Renee in front of my entire cabin. Please don't let anyone hear me except Casey. Please, please, please.

"Whoa. Tyler, since when are you at the love part of the relationship?!" Courtney was focusing in on me.

"_Anyway_," Casey interrupted. "I was talking to Tyler, Courtney. You can wait your turn." She turned back to me. "You and Terri are so alike it's unbelievable."

"Pardon? Since when have I done anything like her?"

"Hello? Did you totally miss the last twenty minutes? You guys were doing your twin-mind-reading-appearance-perfecting-best-buds thing."

"Besides that."

"You two are identical in appearance. You wear the same kinds of clothes." She combated my denial by showing me a pair of Terri's jeans and a pair of mine. They were different sizes and shapes (hers was made for a girl, mine was made for a guy), but they were otherwise the same. "You think the same way. You react the same to lots of things. You talk the same way, too."

"I talk like she does? That is incredibly scary."

"Not when she's acting like an airhead. When she's being herself, it's hard to tell you two apart."

"When she's being herself?"

Casey cocked her head at me, making her poofy pigtails bounce. "You're kidding. You haven't noticed?"

"Um, no?"

Casey sighed and threw her hands into the air. "If you don't know then _I _am not telling _you_." She stomped away. What the Hades? We were having an almost normal conversation and all the sudden she gets angry at me and huffs away. What is it with girls and emotion swings? Jeesh. Seventeen years of close contact with this alien species and they still confuse me. Why hasn't anyone figured out how girls' minds work? I bet every teenage guy in the world (well, every straight teenage guy in the world) would love to take the course _How Girls' Minds Work 101_.

I gave up on trying to get information from Casey and told Courtney, sorry, but Renee was waiting for me and I didn't want to make her mad. Then I dashed off to the arena, hoping she would be there or in the woods and not in the Ares cabin.

"Renee?" I asked, wondering whether she was still awake. We were lying on the grass of a meadow deep inside the forest. Her head was laying on my stomach and her eyes were closed.

"Hmm?"

"What do you think about Sherman?" I blurted. Terri's date with Sherman would not leave my mind. I kept wondering if she was okay. If he'd hurt her. If she was having a good time. My experiences with Sherman were not exactly comforting, but Renee loved him, so he must not be all bad.

"As a wrestler, he's a pretty good opponent. As a fighter, he's excellent. As a scholar, he doesn't quite make it. As a brother, he's my favorite. As a guy, he's pretty good. That what you wanted to know?"

"I was thinking more about who he is, personality and character wise."

"He's playful. Funny, if you listen to him. Sweet if it slips out when he's not paying attention. Rude, when he's stressed. Not at all considerate of guys who aren't his friends. Somewhat considerate of pretty girls. He doesn't have a ton of morals, but he sticks to his rules and never makes an exception. He's so loyal and protective it's annoying." Renee paused for a minute and I sensed a backstory.

"Yeah?"

"When I got back from staying at your house, the two of us went to the arena to wrestle and goof off a bit. Some guys were there too. Sherman went to get a waterbottle and daggers so we could fight. One of the guys came up to me and he started saying some rude stuff. I guess Sherman overheard some of it, because he punched the guy until he was a wet noodle. Even though I was about to defend myself."

I didn't like the sound of this. Despite my differences with Sherman, if he didn't like what the guy had been saying, I was going to hate it. "What did he say to you?"

"Sherman told me not to think about what the guy said."

"No, I meant the guy."

"Oh, just some stuff about how pretty I was, and, um, how glad he was I didn't have a boyfriend. Plus some other, uh, perverted stuff."

I sat up and pulled Renee practically on top of me. I did not like anyone else even thinking about Renee or talking to her like that. The idea that some guy might put his hands all over her made my blood boil.

"Tyler, it's fine." Renee glanced up at my face. "It's not like I wanted to do any of the stuff he was talking about with him."

"Still," I grumped. Renee's lips pressed into my hand.

"Why did you want to know about Sherman?"

Huh? Oh, yeah, I'd asked her about Sherman. Right. "He and my sister are on a date right now." My grumpy mood was not improving.

"Which sister?"  
"Terri."

"Oh," Renee said, as if this made something clear.

"What?"

"You've been grumpy, upset, and preoccupied all evening."

"What does that have to do with Terri?"

"Really, Tyler?"

"I don't get it."

"Why are you so blind when it comes to Terri?"

"Why does everyone think I'm clueless about Terri?"

"Because you are. If Casey or Clara told you that, then they're one hundred percent correct."

"Thanks so much, Renee."

I really didn't understand though. I knew Terri like the back of my hand. She was my twin, how could I not? Yet Casey and Renee both acted like I was missing the most obvious facts, like her hair color. What did they think they knew and I didn't?

"First of all, Tyler, you guys are identical twins for a reason. Second, how can you not notice what Terri does to herself? Third, you two are close, but neither of you actually understands each other. It's like you guys haven't actually communicated in months."

"What on earth are you talking about? What do you mean, what Terri does to herself?"

"So much bloody work to do," Renee muttered to herself. This was not how I wanted my date with her to go, but she seemed to be more willing than Casey to give me answers. The two of them had made me unbearably curious.

The suspense was killing me. Killing me! "Great. I'm glad you two think I'm hopeless. I'm ecstatic that neither of you want to share your opinions with me. I mean, why would it matter whether anyone tells me exactly what it is I'm missing about Terri? No biggie, right?"

Renee rolled her eyes at me. "Okay, drama king, you can calm down, now."

"And what if I don't want to calm down?" I crossed my arms across my chest.

"Tyler, you think Terri's an airhead, right?"

"No!" I protested. "I just think she goes overboard with the girly, slutty thing."

"Haven't you ever noticed how she acts like a decent human being when you catch her with her guard down?"

"Um, no."

Renee said something along the lines of 'bleeding boys'. This conversation was really making her accent thicker. "Whenever Terri is around Sophie or Courtney or one of your other giggling sisters, she acts just like them. She obsesses over clothes and guys and gossip. I bet, to some extent, that is who she is. But the slutty clothes she wears? The way she pretends not to be smart enough to think for herself? She's acting, Tyler. She's trying to fit in." I just stared at Renee. "Really, Tyler? You've never noticed any of this? She's your twin sister. I don't even know her and I've noticed."

"You understand every single person in the world. Obviously, I don't understand anyone." Especially girls. We were silent for a couple of minutes, then I remembered the beginning of our conversation. "What does any of this have to do with her going out with Sherman?"

"The reason you've been a grump is you're worried about her. You deny it all the time, but of all your sisters you're closest to Terri."

"Closer than I am with Casey? No way."

Renee didn't argue with me, but her raised eyebrows and pursed lips didn't agree with me. So maybe she was just the slightest bit right. But the thing about Terri pretending to be someone else so she would fit in? No way. Not my twin sister. Not the girl with so much spunk she spent three weeks in middle school dressed as a pink fashion geru because one of the popular girls told her a completely pink outfit couldn't be fashionable. Renee was imagining it. But Casey? Was Casey imagining it too?

My solution was to keep a closer eye on Terri, just to make sure I was right and Casey and Renee were wrong.

**A/N: REVIEW! Eighty views last chapter and no reviews. I need at least one review or I'm not gonna be able to force myself to update. Please?**


	20. Chapter 20

My plan wasn't working out quite the way I wanted it to. I'd planned to keep a close eye on Terri to determine for myself that Casey and Renee were raving. Except it seemed that they were spot on and it was me who had been wrong.

I was up early, Gods knew why, but I was too lazy to get out of bed so I watched everyone else get ready. Terri got dressed in a pair of jeans and a plaid shirt over a tank top. When she came out of the changing room, Courtney stared askance at her.

Sophie said, "Terri, what are you wearing? C'mon, girl, put on some real clothes."

Terri's cheeks- almost free of make-up- turned red. She slipped back into the bathroom and came out in a mini-skirt and frilly sleeveless shirt. I couldn't believe it. Had she really changed just because Sophie and Courtney didn't think she was slutty enough?

Every time I really paid attention to Terri, I saw more of the same. My strong sister had completely given in to peer pressure. When had this started? How long had I been looking the other way and not even knowing it?

Of course, the new worries about Terri weren't enough for me to deal with. This afternoon, I was with Renee when we ran into Chiron. He told me I needed to make sure the cabin was clean for inspection. So, against my better instincts, I brought Renee with me to my cabin. She didn't seem to have a problem with it, until we got to the cabin itself. I walked right in, but Renee stood in the doorway, looking horrified. I wasn't sure if she was horrified because everything was pink and perfect or because of the impressive rows of beautifying products (some of which aren't exactly legal), shoes, and other girly things. Or it might have been the conversation my sisters were having.

"Edward is sooo much sweeter than Jacob."

"Jacob is way better. Edward is too perfect! Plus Jacob is hot."

"Jacob definitely."

"Edward!"

"Jacob!"

"Edward!"

Casey intervened, "Is this a contest between the book versions of Jacob and Edward or between the movie actors?"

"Taylor Lautner is hot!" Sophie squealed.

"Robert Pattinson is just as hot as Taylor Lautner!"

"Oh gods, have you even looked at his face? Eww!"

Casey looked at me, "How long 'till they start quoting the books?"

"I give it two minutes." I replied. Renee inched her way over to me, recoiling from every feminine product (such as the twenty-five million different trays of eyeshadow on my sister's dresser) like it was the most potent poison in the world and it was about to explode.

Casey mimicked Terri's voice, "'What a marshmallow. You should hold out for someone with a stronger stomach. Someone who laughs at the gore that makes weaker men vomit.'"

I grinned, "'Fall over again, Bella?' 'No, Emmett, I punched a werewolf in the face.'"

"Are you two quoting Twilight?" Renee asked sounding disgusted as she sat down next to me on my bed.

"Nope," Casey said, flashing her bright white teeth, "I was quoting New Moon and he was quoting Eclipse."

"'_Life sucks, and then you die_. Yeah, I should be so lucky.'" I said, this time quoting Breaking Dawn.

"Stop!" Renee said as she covered her ears, "Or both of you are going to the Underworld the quick way."

"About three things I am absolutely positive. First, you wouldn't send us to the Underworld because then our mom would be mad at you. Second, there is a part of you- and I don't know how dominant that part is- that really wants to beat me up right now. And third, I am unconditionally and irrevocably certain that I have enough bruises and breaks from you to last a life time."

"'I wrenched the door out of my way- ridiculously eager- and there he was, my personal miracle.'" Casey said with a dramatic sigh. She kept the wistful expression on her face and the adoring look in her eyes until she finished the sentence. Then she collapsed in giggles.

"'Dad, don't you have a baseball bat somewhere in your room? I only want to borrow it for a moment.'" I said. Renee threw a punch at my head.

"'Make Bella see sense? What world do you live in?'" Casey said, an impish smile adorning her features.

"Shut your mouths!" Renee lashed out with her fists at both of us. I ducked her fist to poke her in the belly. She mock-glared at me.

I didn't glare back- glaring at Renee is like provoking a rattlesnake. It's the stupidest possible thing to do.


End file.
